China’s players celebrate a goal during the qualifying play-off second leg women’s football match for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games between China and South Korea at Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Suzhou, Jiangsu province on April 13, 2021. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
China’s women sealed a last-ditch spot at the Tokyo Olympics football Tuesday by squeezing past South Korea 4-3 on aggregate, a thrilling conclusion to a qualifying campaign dogged by coronavirus delays.
Former Paris Saint-Germain forward Wang Shuang scored the winner in extra time in front of 13,000 jubilant fans in Suzhou, after South Korea recovered from a 2-1 first-leg home deficit.
Wuhan native Wang curled the ball into the bottom corner from just outside the box in the first period of extra time to torpedo South Korea’s hopes of playing at the Olympics for the first time.
Players from both teams collapsed to the turf at the end.
For the Asian rivals it was the final chapter in a long qualifying campaign. This decider — one of two remaining berths for Tokyo — was scheduled for March last year but was postponed three times because of the coronavirus.
The virus still hung heavily over the tie. In Suzhou, the stadium announcer told the crowd to keep their masks on and social distance, while medical staff in full protective bodysuits watched from the sidelines.
China bussed fans in for the game and, decked out in red and with matching face masks, they booed the announcement of the South Korean national anthem.
South Korea, which had never reached the Olympics since women’s football was introduced in 1996, was a threat every time they attacked and silenced the home supporters when Kang Chae-rim scored on the half hour.
That made it 2-2 on aggregate but South Korea needed to score again and they did so on the stroke of half-time thanks to an own goal.
China, 15th in the FIFA rankings to South Korea’s 18th, had barely threatened but substitute Yang Man popped up to level the tie 3-3.
It was a fairytale end to China’s tortuous Olympic journey.
The team was especially affected in the early days of the coronavirus and was hailed back home as a defiant symbol against the crisis.
They were training in Wuhan, epicenter of the coronavirus, but left a day before the Chinese city went into lockdown in January last year. Match-winner Wang was stranded in Wuhan.
The team — minus Wang — was then quarantined and ended up doing exercises in the corridor of an Australian hotel, after the qualifying tournament was moved out of China.
The Tokyo 2020 Games, themselves badly upended by the coronavirus, will take place in July-August.