Shaoyu Yuan and Father Attend Germany-Ecuador World Cup Match as China Misses Tournament Again
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 17
Shaoyu Yuan and Father Attend Germany-Ecuador World Cup Match as China Misses Tournament Again
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 17
Summary
MetLife Stadium in late June became the setting for Shaoyu Yuan and his father to watch Germany play Ecuador, a trip his father made from China for the World Cup.
Years of planning centered on seeing China at the tournament, but the Chinese men’s team failed to qualify and has now missed every World Cup since 2002.
That 2002 appearance frames the essay’s contrast: Yuan recalls watching matches with his father on a boxy television, when many Chinese fans still expected a coming soccer golden era.
The piece uses the father-son outing to argue that even without its men’s team on the field, China remains deeply present in the World Cup’s global story.