Tag Archives: Chinese soccer

The best own goal you will see this year

Getting to this a little late, but it’s worth a look… Chris Brass’ broken nose classic still ranks as the best own goal of all time, but this is pretty impressive. At the recent Chinese National Games, teams from Liaoning and Xinjiang combined to produce this moment of magic. It has all the ingredients: the scuffed clearance, the ricochet, the deflection, the whiffed miskick – and, of course, the stunned reactions followed by the embarrassment of realizing that it has been broadcast to the nation on CCTV-5. It doesn’t really matter, but for the record, Xinjiang players are the ones doing the scoring (against themselves). Another fine, fine moment for Chinese soccer.

Weekly Wrap: Manny, golf prodigies and the return of match-fixing

There have been a couple of fantastic, long-form articles written in recent days about sport in this part of the world. The first comes from Brook Larmer, author of the 2005 book Operation Yao Ming which details the rise of China’s most famous sporting son. Writing in the New York Times, Larmer turns his attention to golf, describing a fascinating picture of the wealthy, driven parents of kids as young as eight essentially creating their own mini versions of the state-backed sports schools that have been so successful in churning out Olympians. Here’s an extract:

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Photo credit: New York Times

Continue reading Weekly Wrap: Manny, golf prodigies and the return of match-fixing

Weekly Wrap: Man Utd, Messi and China’s next big thing

Sina Weibo welcomes Manchester United

Manchester United finally – finally – have an official Sina Weibo page here after a shocking lack of presence here, filled largely by fan pages. For years, the powers that be at Old Trafford were arrogant enough to think that everyone would simply go to the team’s homepage, and the club has now also launched a Twitter page for the first time (@ManUtd). The site now has more than 100,000 followers (though always take Sina Weibo numbers with a sack of salt), as compared to close to four times that amount on Twitter. Nothing of particular note is up yet on the Weibo site – so far just a few pictures and headlines from their Asian Tour – but at least it’s a step in the right direction in trying to connect with Chinese fans.

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Continue reading Weekly Wrap: Man Utd, Messi and China’s next big thing

Xi Jinping’s Chinese Pipe Dream

The team behind the excellent Wild East Football blog on Chinese soccer do such a comprehensive job that, Beckham aside, I don’t often get around to focusing on what is still China’s most popular sport. But the farce that is China’s national team appears to have hit a new nadir. You might assume at this point that the only way is up, but with 114 teams currently ranked below China, there’s still plenty of room to underperform their own abysmal standards. Here is today’s Sports Talk column:

They say it’s always darkest before the dawn, but Chinese soccer appears to be in a permanent blackout. Lurching out of the shadows of match-fixing and corruption, the national team stumbles from one defeat to the next.

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The real reason David Beckham came to China

Tucked away at the end of David Beckham’s second of his three visits to China this year – and conspicuously absent from his stated itinerary, which included visits to Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou, a photo session with some sick kids, a CSL game and a prime-time TV appearance on CCTV with wife Victoria – was this:Beckham CAR signing

Continue reading The real reason David Beckham came to China

Beckham visit causes stampede in Shanghai, 7 injured [UPDATED, NEW PHOTOS]

This is exactly what the organizers would have wanted to avoid. Beckham’s first trip to China in March sparked the usual scenes of craziness seen whenever a global celebrity appears in Asia, but everything during Trip 1 seemed to go off without a hitch.

Trip 2 has seen significantly lower media interest so far, but a visit to Tongji University in Shanghai on Thursday saw seven people end up in hospital after students waiting for Beckham to appear broke through the door of the university gymnasium and rushed past a wall of security guards and police.

Policewoman carried away Continue reading Beckham visit causes stampede in Shanghai, 7 injured [UPDATED, NEW PHOTOS]

Maradona wins China court battle – but will he get paid?

Diego Armando Maradona, the scourge of English soccer fans and the Italian taxman, has just achieved perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments of his storied career: winning a case in a Chinese court. Continue reading Maradona wins China court battle – but will he get paid?

Beckham in China, Take Two

Now that Sir David Beckham, the God of Branding, has officially hung up his boots, he can concentrate on the Big Problems, like world peace and buying MLS franchises. Becks returns to China next week for the second of three trips this year, as part of his ambassadorial contract with the Chinese Super League. If the first trip was all about the kids, then the second one is all about charity (but like these two, David doesn’t like to brag). Here are the details:

Continue reading Beckham in China, Take Two

Sven’s career tailspin set to crash land in China

It struck me recently that the biggest obstacles 14-year-old Chinese golf sensation Guan Tianlang still has to face are nothing to do with sport: girls and money. Either or both could send him off the rails, or make him lose interest in golf altogether.

There are plenty of sports figures who have succumbed to both the ladies and the greenback. Soccer has a few examples, not least Sven-Goran Eriksson, the former England manager, who is now set to [UPDATE: has now] become coach of Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League.

Sven before and after
Sven-Goran Eriksson: before and after he became irresistible

Continue reading Sven’s career tailspin set to crash land in China

Weekly Wrap: Optimistic Americans, Struggling Print Journos and Manny’s Dreadlocks

Tennis, baseball, both forms of football, badminton, athletics and mahjong all feature in this week’s wrap…

Continue reading Weekly Wrap: Optimistic Americans, Struggling Print Journos and Manny’s Dreadlocks