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China media slams 'worst ever' team

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China's media showered invective on its national soccer team on Tuesday, calling the 3-0 loss to the Republic of Korea a humiliating nightmare and labeling the team the worst in the nation's history.

Three-time champion ROK knocked China out of the Asian Games competition Monday, dominating the hosts in front of 43,000 disappointed Chinese fans in the last 16 clash.

"This series of matches by the team that has been called 'China's worst Olympic team in history' has proved that they are the worst in history," the Yangtze Evening News screamed.

The Chinese side lost to their fiercest rivals, the ROK and Japan, by identical scores.

Monday's defeat "rubbed salt into the wounds of Chinese soccer, which has been hit hard in the last few years by match-fixing, crooked referees and illegal gambling," Xinhua news agency said.

The Koreans "met few threats from a seemingly amateurish side who created few chances and shots and had a fragile defense."

Leading web portal Sina.com said the loss was an insult to the fans, adding there was little hope for the future of a youth side that is "paralyzed by fear" of their East Asian opponents.

According to a Sina survey, 91 percent of over 17,000 respondents said there was no hope for the team, while 95 percent said that their technical ability was lagging far behind that of the ROK.