For China, soccer is passion and misery

Chinese soccer fans were left disheartened again as the U-23 team ended the Asian Games campaign with a 2-0 loss against against Thailand, turning a redemption-seeking rematch into another blow.

Many Chinese fans were still reeling from a humiliating 5-1 loss to the visiting Thais in an 2013 international friendly. The loss triggered public furor against the poor-performing national team and its then head coach Jose Camacho.

Even so, soccer is never short of avid fans in China. The 2014 Brazil World Cup sparked a soccer-themed summer in which sleep-deprived fans, eyes glued to TV screens, cheered and sobbed for any national team but China's, which has only qualified once – at the 2002 South Korea- Japan World Cup.

A weak national team seems a chronic pain for Chinese fans, who often cite poor professionalism and lack of fighting spirit as reasons for the team's downfall.