Skills, not anger and frustration, earn victory on the soccer field

The Chinese soccer teams' 1-2 loss to Qatar in the Asian Football Confederation Under-23 Championship in Changzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, on Monday means its elimination at the group stage. China beat Oman 3-0 and lost 0-1 to Uzbekistan before losing the decisive match to Qatar.

The loss of the U-23 Chinese team would have been equally frustrating even if the players had not insulted the referees for their controversial decisions of showing seven yellow cards to the Chinese players - two to the same player, automatically making it a red card - but only one yellow to a Qatari player, by imitating the action of counting currency notes.

The young players are not likely to escape the AFC's punishment for their impulsive behavior even if the Chinese team's complaint against the unfair refereeing is accepted. And that should teach them to respect the authority of the referees even while protesting against their decisions. The players must adapt to different working styles of referees, and develop patience to cope with the fast changing situations during a match.