China fans mark World Cup ‘honour’ as Congo draw gives men unwanted points record
DR Congo’s draw with Portugal, and Uzbekistan’s goal against Colombia on Thursday leaves China men’s team in category of none
China’s men have a new Fifa World Cup record to their name, and it’s not one either they or their fans will have wanted.
Democratic Republic of Congo’s 1-1 draw with Portugal, and Uzbekistan’s goal in a 3-1 loss to Colombia leaves China as the only qualifying nation since 1938 not to have a point or a goal to its name at a World Cup finals.
Indonesia, playing as the Dutch East Indies at the 1938 tournament, also did not score. But the World Cup that year was one of only two since the first competition in 1930 that did not have a group stage. There was no group stage in 1934, and no tournament in the 1940s because of the Second World War.
Soon after Congo’s Yoane Wissa had scored, a Weibo thread titled “The only teams left with 0 goals and 0 points in the World Cup are China and Indonesia” almost found its way to the top of the hot topic table, and was viewed by more than 20 million readers and got over 2,500 comments.
Making their first World Cup appearance since 1974, Congo, who went goalless while losing all three matches and conceding 14 goals in West Germany in their World Cup debut, scored through Yoane Wissa to earn their first point.
In their only World Cup to date, China lost all three matches to Costa Rica, Brazil, and Turkey during the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan, conceding nine goals without finding the net.