China's Under-23s Win Asian Games Football Bronze on Li Hao's Penalty Saves
A solo goal from 19-year-old Wang Yudong and two shoot-out saves from goalkeeper Li Hao gave China's Under-23s a 4-3 penalty win over Uzbekistan — the country's first Asian Games men's football medal in 28 years.
At Toyota Stadium outside Nagoya on Saturday, China's Under-23 men's team drew 2-2 with Uzbekistan over 90 minutes, then won the penalty shoot-out 4-3 to take the Asian Games bronze medal — the country's first men's football medal at the Games in 28 years. Two moments decided the match, and by Saturday evening each had its own trending topic.
The first belonged to Wang Yudong, the 19-year-old forward who was the youngest starter in the side. In the 53rd minute he collected the ball just inside the centre circle, accelerated past several retreating defenders and struck from the edge of the area into the top corner. Chinese fans have a name for that kind of solo goal — a 世界波, a "world wave" — and Wang celebrated it with both hands clamped over his ears.
Uzbekistan's late equaliser pushed the medal to penalties, and there Li Hao took over. The goalkeeper saved the first and third Uzbekistan kicks to close out a 4-3 win. The sports outlet Zhibo8 was styling him a "door god" (门神) — the guardian figures painted on Chinese doorways to keep out demons — complete with a poster on a solid red field. Fans knew the joke was about more than one match: a door god is what you hang up when you need something kept out, and lately Chinese football has been fighting to keep out embarrassment.
"This Under-23 side really is the national team," the sports commentator Wang Weichen wrote after the whistle. "At the back, the door god Li Hao. Up front, Zhang Yuning as the target and Wang Yudong running beyond him — one tall, one quick." The relief in the reaction was the point. Days earlier the senior side lost 0-5 to Palestine in a friendly and ended the evening with a teenager facing the press-conference microphones; the Under-23s, by contrast, reached their first Asian Games semi-final in 28 years before the bronze went the distance.
The medal arrived on the day China's delegation in Nagoya crossed 166 golds, a record for the country at an away Games. The shoot-out was the top question on Zhihu, and an explainer by the outlet Shangyou News drew more than 3,500 likes. The last word online went to a fan's proposal about the coach: "Antonio's job this tournament is done — let him lead one more cycle, and when he's finished, just merge the two squads into the actual national team."
