The Chinese national football team has filed a letter to Asia’s football governing body in protest of the disallowed goal during the World Cup qualifier match against Hong Kong on Tuesday.
A strike from Chinese player Yu Dabao, 77 minutes into the match, brought the ball slightly past the goal line – but the referee from Bahrain did not allow it as he did not see it. It was only picked up by some cameras. The match ended with a nil-nil draw between the two teams.
The China team sent the letter to the secretary general of the Asian Football Confederation, protesting against the “obvious misjudgment” of the referee, China state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday.
In the report, Xinhua noted that the letter would not be able to change the match results, and that China’s chance to advance to the next round is very slim.
The draw means that Hong Kong will remain second in their group with one game remaining in Qatar, while China is in third place with matches against the Maldives and Qatar to come.
In order to advance, both teams must win their remaining matches to be among the four best second-placed teams in the world cup qualifiers. However, it will be difficult for both teams to beat Qatar.
The fate of Hong Kong and China also depends on the teams in other groups with better results. Uzbekistan, Jordan, Syria and United Arab Emirates, which are relatively stronger teams, would have to lose points in future matches.
