Women's Football

In the finals of the four-nation Women's Football Tournament in Guangzhou, hosts China beat South Korea 1-0, even though the winning goal by Chinese skipper Bi Yan was controversial.

Initial controversy in this women's football game was in the 30th minute when China was awarded a free kick just outside the goal area after the South Korea goalkeeper Kim Jung Mi was judged to keep the ball too long. The South Korean girls protested the decision but the real controversy was in the way the free kick was taken.

It was reminiscent of the innovative corner taken by Manchester United against Chelsea recently in their Premier League match. One Chinese player touched the ball with her boot while skipper Bi Yan ran from behind and kicked it through the unprepared South Korean defense.

The South Korean girls protested that the free kick was taken directly. Play was stopped for ten minutes, after which South Korea coach An Ik Soo gathered his players, and sent the very aggrieved girls back to continue the game. China coach Shang Ruihua saw nothing controversial there. "I reckoned that the South Korea players had no idea that the rule about the indirect kick has changed, and according to the new version, the kick can be taken after the ball is just touched by a player. The old rule required the ball should roll a circle before it is kicked to the goal," he said.



This picture is not from the game sadly.....because girls don't play football in their underwear! It shows the old association of girls and soccer in the male imagination; of sexy girls in skimpy clothes posing on football fields.