Former champions and hosts, China PR, played Korea Rep. in the opening match of this tournament with Korea Rep. claiming a come from behind victory 2-3. China PR were unable to capitalize on their home advantage and now place pressure on themselves in their next match versus Japan. Korea Rep. are hoping to win their first tournament for two years and are off to a good start.

Scorers in the January 27th friendly versus Syria, QU Bo and ZHU Ting started up front for China PR. Competing against them, 8 of Korea Rep’s inexperienced starting line-up have less than 5 international caps. Right from the start both sides exerted pressure on the other using high speed tactics. China PR were cheered on by the home crowd and managed to link up some short passes well to get the ball forward but Korea Rep defenders KIM Nam Il and CHO Won Hee gave them no space upfront. Korea Rep’s attack were contained by the Chinese back line and up until the 20th minute were unable to create any chances. Following that they began trying to get behind the side backs using their pace. In the 25th minute LEE Jong Min’s right side cross bobbled in the box and was met by PARK Won Jae’s shot. Then in the 32nd minute KIM Nam Il’s left footed shot almost found the net. China retaliated in the 36th minute with right mid-fileder ZHOU Haibin’s switch releasing mid-fielder DU Zhenyu who played a decisive through ball along the ground. In the 38th minute XU Yunlong headed towards goal from a right sided free kick but the result disappointed the home fans. Despite all of this the first to find the back of the net was Korea Rep. In the 43rd minute YEOM Ki Hun broke on the left and his through ball was headed home by PARK Chu Young to give them the lead. The first half finished with Korea Rep. in the lead 1-0.

　The second half started with China PR attacking with everything they had. After just 30 seconds DU Zhenyu’s cross was headed towards goal by ZHU Ting. This chance was denied by Korea Rep. goalie JUNG Sung Ryong’s fine save but in the 47th minute the resulting corner resulted in a loose ball outside the box and ZHOU Haibin’s excellent middle range shot blazed in to the top right corner. Then in the 61st minute WANG Dong’s free kick to the far post was met by LIU Jian’s powerful header to put them into the lead. China PR had turned the match around and it was now 2-1. China PR exploded in celebration centering around LIU Jian who had taken his shirt off in celebration. The revitalized Chinese supporters sent waves around the stadium to join in the celebration.
However, as that wave was in its 3rd time around Korea Rep’s number 10 PARK Chu Young burst the bubble. In the 65th minute PARK Chu Young scored directly from a free kick just on the right of the penalty area to tie the match at 2-2 with his second of the day. Riding their momentum Korea Rep. then pushed at Chinese defenses to try and create decisive shooting opportunities. In the 72nd minute CHO Won Hee shot from range on the right side. In the 76th minute LEE Jong Min shot from a free kick which went straight across the goal mouth. Chinese scorer LIU Jian was amongst the substitutes as China PR tried to retrieve their rhythm back. However this did not work and the Korea Rep. attacks kept coming. Then after 3 minutes of extra time had been indicated defender KWAK Tae Hwi scored the winning goal. It was a dramatic deciding goal which gave the former-former tournament winners victory over the former winners 2-3.

　After the match the victorious Korea Rep. head coach HUH Jung Moo was happy and said “Our young players gained some good experience and played a good match”. Chinese head coach Vladimir PETROVIC said of the disagreeable loss “the pressure of China PR never having beaten Korea Rep. recently was huge”.