 Off Track ..... 'Ugly' soccer team kills fans' passion
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-13 08:21
Chinese soccer fans are not happy with their team's performance in the Olympics, to put it mildly. After the men's team lost to Belgium, 2-0, on Sunday, fans re-wrote the lyrics of "Welcome to Beijing", one of the Olympic songs, into a sarcastic smear and posted it on the internet. "Our gate is open now, welcome all the ball, one two three or even more, we don't care at all," goes the revised version, which mocks the Chinese team's defense and morale. Online forums also reflect soccer fans' anger and frustration. "CCTV, stop showing us the sloppy performance of the Olympic soccer team. We have had enough!" wrote one former fan. Reporters and commentators covering the team are also fed up.
Well-known soccer commentator Li Chengpeng announced on his blog that he would stop writing and talking about the Chinese team forever, effective immediately. Liu Bin, a football correspondent from Guizhou, told his colleagues that he had scrapped plans to cover the team's next match against Brazil in Qinhuangdao. He described the Olympic match as "full of shame and disgust". Fans also contrasted the soccer team's lackluster performance with the perseverance and toughness demonstrated by China's men's basketball team in its 101-70 loss to the US on Sunday night. The hoops team has claimed a moral victory from the way it kept the game close early on in what some are saying was the most-watched basketball match ever. With hundreds of millions of Chinese watching and a large audience in the US and around the world tuning in on television, China held the Americans to 29-29 deep into the second period. China Daily (China Daily 08/13/2008 page8) |
