NANNING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Croatia U19 national team won the 2016 China-ASEAN International Youth Football Tournament title after defeating China 1-0 Thursday afternoon in Southwest China' s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
China got a golden opportunity soon after kick-off, but Gao Huaze failed to find the net when he faced the goalkeeper one on one. Croatia scored the only goal of the game through counter-attack in the 27th minute. In injury time, Croatia' s Dzajic got his second yellow card and was sent off. But China didn' t have enough time for an equalizer.
Li Ming, head coach of China U19 national team, said in the press conference after the game that Croatia was a strong team in Europe, and the game was very difficult. "Judging from the team' s performance on the pitch, I think we deserve at least one goal. The 38-day intensified training has been effective, but the results of the tournament is not satisfying. I would like to thank our players for their effort in training as well as the matches in the tournament.
In another game, Uzbekistan beat the Philippines 7-0 to rank second with 7 points due to goal difference. China and the Philippines rank the third and fourth respectively.