China loses 1-0 friendly to Germany By FangXuan (www.chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2005-10-13 11:29
With all their players from Europe back on the pitch, China suffered a
1-0 defeat in a friendly match to Germany at Hamburg on Wednesday.
China had called up all five of its
players throughout Europe for the game, including Celtic's new signing Du Wei,
Manchester City midfielder Sun Jihai, Everton midfielder Li Tie, 1860 Munchen
midfielder Shao Jiayi and Manchester United foward Dong Fangzhuo, who is now on
loan to Belgian side, Antwerp.
Byern Munich midfielder Torsten Frings scored the only goal on a penalty shot
after Bernd Schneider was laid down by China's former Everton defender Li
Weifeng six minutes into the second half.
But Manager Zhu Guanghu said he was still "very pleased" with the result,
noting that his team showed "spirit and creativity."
"We had some chances, but we just didn't turn them into a goal," Zhu said.
"This is a good exercise for my players and we've learned a lot from playing
with Germany."
China's opportunity came three minutes before the end of first half as
skipper Zhengzhi set up a one-on-one, but forward Xie Hui, who used to play with
German club Aachen, missed the target against Oliver Kahn.
Dong Fangzhuo, who was substituted for Xie Hui in the second half, hit the
post with a Sun Jihai cross from the right 16 minutes before the end of the
action.
This was China's third friendly against Europeans under Zhu's helm. China
lost to Spain 3-0, and to Ireland 1-0 in previous two Games.
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