China fans savage football team after World Cup failure, say it should be disbanded
Fans say side ‘a waste of national resources’ and wonder if money might be better spent on ‘more aircraft carriers’
China fans are used to being disappointed by their men’s football team, but having their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup dashed by Indonesia appears to have been the final straw.
A 1-0 defeat in Jakarta on Thursday was the first time, according to Chinese state media, they had lost to their rivals in 68 years.
Their opponents, meanwhile, suggested it was only 38 years, pointing to a match in the King’s Cup in Thailand in 1987, when a Galatama XI beat Hubei 3-1.
Either way, social media was awash with supporters suggesting the time had come to disband a side that was “a waste of national resources”. Another commenter believed “any of the people in the village supermarket are better than them”.
There was some humour too, with one fan suggesting things were not all bad, as there was now time to “prepare for the 2030 World Cup four years in advance”, while another wondered whether the money spent on the team might be put to better use by “building 10 more aircraft carriers”.
Predictably, head coach Branko Ivankovic came in for some heavy criticism, although there was also a lot of discussion about a Chinese system that has failed to produce a World Cup side for more than 20 years.