A Chinese media claimed that the penalty kick decision given to Korea in the match against Korea was a misjudgment.
Chinese media outlet The Paper claimed in a report on the 21st that “the Chinese national soccer team was misjudged a penalty kick.”
The media said, “Until this goal, the Chinese national team wasn’t bad.
They had several opportunities to counterattack,” adding, “But unfortunately, there is no VAR in the World Cup qualifiers.”
In the second match of Group C of the 2026 North, Central America World Cup Asia 2nd qualifying round held at the Universiade Sports Center in Shenzhen, China on the 21st, China bowed 0-3 to Korea.
Son Heung-min's first goal from a penalty kick in the 11th minute of the first half led to the final goal.
The penalty kick decision was made when defender Joo Chen-chie lifted his leg while he was down, and the referee judged that Hwang Hee-chan was caught.
Regarding this, the media pointed out, "Through slow motion, it was revealed that this was a controversial penalty kick," and that "it was Korean team striker Jo Kyu-sung (not Joo Chen-chie) who kicked his teammate.
There is no VAR system in the second qualifying round of the 2026 North and Central America World Cup.
Korea, who scored the first goal early in the day, ran away with a 2-0 lead thanks to Son Heung-min's header from a corner kick opportunity at the end of the first half
and then in the 42nd minute of the second half, Jeong Seung-hyun finished Son Heung-min's free kick with a header to make it 3-0. stuck.
The media also claimed, “The referee intentionally made a decision unfavorable to China.”
“In this match between China and Korea, the referee unexpectedly became the main character,” he said.
Al Jassim, a referee from Qatar, served as the referee in the Chinese Super League in 2013, and made coercive decisions against Chinese clubs and the Chinese national team, making him a ‘Chinese soccer nemesis.’
It is also called,” he said, raising his voice.
The media said that although the first goal was a mistake, “we must acknowledge that there is a clear gap between the Chinese and Korean national teams.”
“According to the rankings recently announced by FIFA, Korea ranks 24th in the world and 3rd in Asia, while China ranks 79th in the world and 11th in Asia,” he said.
“Also, according to Transfermarkt statistics, the total market value of the Korean team is 187.55 million euros.
The player with the highest market value is Kim Min-jae, valued at 60 million euros. This is five times the entire market value of the Chinese team, which is 11.7 million euros.
The second most valuable player, Son Heung-min, is valued at 50 million euros. On the other hand, the most valuable player in the Chinese team is “The player is worth only 2 million euros,” he explained.
He also praised, "The Korean team's 23-man roster includes 13 players who are active in overseas leagues, including Kim Min-jae and Son Heung-min, and among them, 6 players, including Lee Jae-seong, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Kang-in, and Jung Woo-young, are playing in the top 5 European leagues."
With this loss, China's previous record against Korea dropped to 37 games, 2 wins, 12 draws, and 23 losses.
Their last victory was a 1-0 win in the final qualifying round for the FIFA World Cup in Russia in March 2017.
Since then, they have only 1 draw and 4 losses.
The number of countries advancing to the North and Central America World Cup has increased to 48, and the Asian region preliminaries also show differences from the existing format. A total of 8.5 tickets are allocated to Asia.
In the second qualifying round, the first and second place winners from each group advance to the third qualifying round of the World Cup and also earn the right to advance to the Asian Cup finals to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2027.
If you place in the top two of your group in the third qualifying round of the World Cup, you will secure a spot in the World Cup finals.