Korea falls to China in youth tournament

South Korea suffered a 1-0 setback to China in the 32nd Asian Youth Soccer Championships in Teheran, Iran, on Monday.

In its first match of Group B preliminaries of the tournament, South Korea¡¯s team, made up of players under 19 years old, allowed the winning goal in the 14th minute into the second half.

It was the first loss for the Korean youth team to China after it suffered a 0-2 defeat in the 1982 championships. Since then, Korea has overpowered China with four wins, one draw and no loss.

The soccer world has expected much of the youth team, calling it the ¡°last hope¡± of Korean soccer, after the national team showed poor performances in the Sydney Olympics and Asian Cup tournaments over the past months.

The young Korean players could not create any good scoring opportunities through the whole game. Spearheaded by Lee Chun-Soo and Jo Jae-Jin, the Korean team attempted to play an offensive game but was helpless, blocked by the Chinese team from the midfield.

After the scoreless first half, China launched a series of sizzling attacks and scored the winning goal with a header by Chibo.

South Korea, seeking to win the championship for the third consecutive time, needs to win at least two victories in the remaining matches with Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq for second place in its pool to get a berth for the world championships.

Korea will meet Pakistan at 7 p.m. Wednesday Korean Standard Time.

Kwon Soon-Il stt77@donga.com