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China Fall to Egypt in Shootout
Following a scoreless 120 minutes, China fell to Egypt in a shootout on Wednesday evening January 17 in Tehran in the opening match of the Culture Cup. China will face hosts Iran on Saturday.
Without five key European-based players, China quickly lost control of the midfield, and it quickly became clear that the four Chinese midfielders had no ability to organize the attack in the first half.
Egypt nearly put China in an early hole, but legendary striker Hossam Hassan's shot hit the bar in the third minute.
China's best opportunity of the first half came in the 35th minute, when central defender Li Weifeng put his header over the bar following a corner from Shen Si.
In an effort to remedy his side's lackluster first half performance, China coach Bora Milutinovic sent on 19-year-old Qu Bo while moving Sun Jihai from defender to midfielder.
China took charge in the second half, but with both goalkeepers -- Fu Bin and Essam El-Hadary -- playing at the top of their game, the match ended scoreless.
Egypt brought in reserve goalkeeper Nader El-Sayed in the final minute of the match.
During the shootout, El-Sayed stopped shots from Li Xiaopeng and Shen Si, and Shu Chang put his penalty off the woodwork. Although Fu tried his best to equal El-Sayed's performance in the shootout, he could not keep China from falling to their second defeat of the year.
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