TOKYO, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China took the third place in men's tournament of the 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship after drawing 1-1 with DPR Korea on Saturday.
Though the DPR Korea played offensively from the very beginning and created a few threats, Wei Shihao kicked in the first goal of the game in the 28th minute, lifting China to a 1-0 lead.
The DPR Korea fought back in the second half and leveled the score with a free kick through Jong Il-gwan in the 81st minute.
"Our goal for playing this tournament was to give our young players chances to play international games and to gain experiences," said China coach Marcello Lippi after the game.
"I think we have achieved this goal," he said, adding that he was satisfied in general with the performances of the younger players.
He especially spoke highly of Wei Shihao, who scored China's only goal of this game, which was also his second goal in the tournament.
"I saw high potential in Wei. We want to improve the attacking power of our team, and it's hoped that Wei could bring some changes to the forward line," he said.
With two losses and one draw, the DPR Korea took the fourth place in the tournament.
"We created a lot of big chances but unluckily failed to capitalized them," said DPR Korea coach Jorn Andersen after the game.
He added that his team played very well and could have won the match as well as a previous match with Japan with a little more luck.
"We took the last place, but from the perspective of playing football, I'm satisfied with my team," said Andersen.
The 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship is running in Tokyo and Chiba from Dec. 8-16. Four countries - China, Japan, South Korea and DPR Korea - are competing in the championship.
With two wins in as many games, Japan will only need a draw in the final game against South Korea later in the day to claim the championship title for men's game.
