Allowing 2 goals to Japan's third-string team is seen as a good performance. This is the perspective of Chinese media.
The Chinese national football team, led by coach Dejan Jurjevic, suffered a 0-2 defeat against Japan in the second match of the 2025 East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship held at Yongin Mir Stadium on the afternoon of the 12th. With 2 losses in the tournament, China seeks its first victory in the final match against Hong Kong (2 losses).
Japan has secured 2 victories alongside Korea. Korea is set to compete against Japan for the championship on the 15th.
China suffered a crushing 0-7 defeat against Japan in the third round of World Cup qualifiers held in Japan last September. Although Takefusa Kubo played, many European players were absent from Japan's lineup. Nonetheless, Japan outplayed China.
After the match, China was haunted by its 'Japanese trauma.' There was fear of another 0-7 loss to Japan's third-string team. With an eye on the final against Korea, Japan excluded many of its key players from the starting lineup. Even with a second-string team lacking overseas players, it was effectively a third-string team. Nevertheless, Japan dominated China.
China lost 0-2. Despite the score, there weren't many goals in relation to the content of the match. In the 10th minute of the first half, Hasada Mao scored the opening goal with a powerful shot. In the 18th minute of the second half, Mochizuki's left-footed shot hit a Chinese defender and became an own goal.
Chinese media, which expected a heavy defeat, is very satisfied with the two-goal loss. They particularly praise goalkeeper Yan Junling.
'Soccer China' noted, 'The Chinese national team performed reasonably well against Japan. In particular, goalkeeper Yan Junling allowed only one goal due to his excellent saves in the first half. He recorded 5 saves by successfully blocking Japan's threatening shots,' awarding Yan Junling a high score of 6.5.
They also praised forward Zhang Yuning, who wasted a one-on-one opportunity against the goalkeeper. 'Soccer China' commented, 'Zhang Yuning created the best scoring chance through aggressive pressing from the front. Unfortunately, he failed to score as just one shot was blocked. Until he was substituted, he was very active in midfield,' giving him a score of 6.2.
[OSEN]