China, the world's most populous nation, capped the most
significant year in its sporting history on Sunday when the
national soccer team reached the World Cup finals for the first
time.
Three months after China won the right to stage their first
Olympics in 2008, a 1-0 defeat of Oman in an Asian qualifier in the
industrial city of
Shenyang set off wild celebrations.
Hundreds of thousands of Beijing citizens swarmed to Tiananmen
Square to celebrate in a burst of patriotic fervour similar to that
in July when the International Olympic Committee voted to hand the
Olympics to the Chinese capital.
The result, together with the qualification of the United States
after a 2-1 defeat of Jamaica, provided a huge boost to the
commercial viability of the finals in Japan and South Korea.
A
country of 1.2 billion people, one sixth of the world's population,
will now turn on their television sets to watch the national team
playing the world's most popular sport.
With Russia joining England, Italy, Croatia, Portugal and Denmark
in the finals after qualifying games on Saturday, the event has
guaranteed interest among billions of people from Beijing to Boston
and Moscow to Milan.
A
nervous Chinese display and cold drizzle did nothing to dampen the
enthusiasm of 60,000 fans who packed the stadium in Shenyang, many
sporting red headbands and painted faces, and banging drums.
The single goal in the 37th minute by midfielder Yu Genwei,
replacing the suspended Qi Hong, was enough to break a World Cup
jinx going all the way back to 1957, when China first entered the
premier soccer competition.
China have now secured top spot in Asian Zone group B with two
games to spare, which means automatic qualification.
AMERICAN BOOST
Soccer has yet to gain a firm place in the competitive US sports
market, but the 2-1 defeat of Jamaica in a CONCACAF region
qualifier in Foxboro, Massachusetts, provided a huge boost to the
game in North America.
The result ended Jamaica's hopes of reaching the finals. They
played at the finals for the first time in 1998.
The US are now certain of grabbing one of the top three spots in
the group, which secure qualification for the finals, after
Honduras surprisingly lost 1-0 at home to Trinidad and Costa Rica
drew 0-0 with Mexico.
Trinidad had previously gained just one point from their eight
games in the group.
Costa Rica are top with 20 points ahead of the US in second with
16. Honduras and Mexico both have 14 points.
Since Honduras and Mexico play each other in the last round of
matches next month, only one of the two teams can overtake the
US.
The US sealed victory and a place in their seventh finals with two
goals from Joe-Max Moore in the fourth and 81st minutes. His second
strike came from the penalty spot. Jamaica replied with a 14th
minute goal from James Lawrence.
At
the other end of the scale to China, tiny Liechtenstein finished
their World Cup campaign with a 5-0 defeat by Bosnia in European
group seven.
They lost all of their eight games, failing to score and conceding
23 goals.
(Xinhua News
Agency 10/08/2001)