Forward Park Chu-young of the Republic of Korea goes up for a header against a Chinese player in the round of 16 of the men's soccer tournament at the 16th Asian Games on Monday. Yang Shizhong / China Daily]

GUANGZHOU - China's nightmare of losing to its perennial rival, the Republic of Korea, continued on Monday as the host nation's U-21 men's soccer team was blanked 3-0 by the ROK at the Asian Games.

The loss, in front of 43,000 fans at Tianhe Stadium, has already triggered calls from some media to fire the national squad.

But head coach Sun Wei said "it is not the right time" to dismiss the squad, even though his future depends on the team's success.

"From my understanding, fans are not calling to dismiss the team. They are encouraging the boys to play better," said Sun.

"The loss is of great importance to helping them grow up more quickly in their soccer careers.

"Personally, the tournament in the Asian Games, whether we win or lose, is just part of my coaching career. It (the possibility of leaving) cannot be decided by me, but by the soccer authorities," the coach added.

Sun said that China had a "relatively huge gap in strength" against the ROK.

"We made some very simple mistakes in the field, especially in passing the ball. Otherwise, the result should not be such a big margin," Sun said.

China has won only one game against the ROK in the East Asian Championship since 1978.

In reply to China Daily's question about differences between the current Chinese team and previous ones, ROK head coach Hong Myung-bo said China has improved a lot over the past years.

"I can only say the Chinese team has been refined a lot, but my boys played better to win today's game," Hong said.

Kim Jung-woo opened the scoring for the ROK in the first half when AS Monaco's Park Chu-young curved a free kick into the net in the 49th minute.

Cho Young-cheol came on with an easy goal at the 59th minute when he converted a pass from the left sideline.

The loss to the ROK disappointed former national team player Peng Weiguo, who helped China win the silver medal in men's soccer tournament at the Hiroshima Asiad in 1994.

"I hope China can win, but I am not so confident," Peng said before the game started.

Peng said the current U-21 team has improved its form after three group matches at the Guangzhou Asiad.

"They have little experience of playing in such an international tournament; that's why they had a poor performance against Japan in the group opener," Peng told China Daily.

The squad was branded the worst national team in China's soccer history after losing 3-0 to Japan, then rebounding to beat Kyrgyzstan 2-1 and Malaysia 3-0.

China Daily