Li Yi
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| Li Yi 李毅 |
||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | June 20, 1979 | |
| Place of birth | Bangfu, Anhui province,  China |
|
| Height | 1.84 m | |
| Playing position | Defending-Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Xian Chanba |
|
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1997 1998 1999 2000-2006 2007-present |
Tianjin Huochetou Shenzhen Pingan Beijing Guoan Shenzhen Kingway Xian Chanba |
18 (4) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2001-present | China |
29 (2) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Li Yi (Simplified Chinese: 李毅) is a Chinese soccer player and coach. A striker on China national football team. He now plays for Xian Chanba.
His critical and pretentious off-field comments often overshadow his soccer skills. Comments such as saying his ball protecting is better than Thierry Henry, makes him a target for much criticism from home fans.
Contents |
[edit] 2003 East Asian Cup Controversy
The 2003 EAC game opened in the face of heated political bitterness on both sides as Korea and China were bitterly embroiled over geographical claims over Goguryeo, which most historians consider as a Korean state if not by history then by culture though, China has persistently claimed that Goguryeo as a Chinese kingdom.
Also, two other factors added a great deal to apprehension between players during this match. The first was the enormous overseas expectation that China was no match for Korea and thus wouldn’t be able to put up a good fight out of fear of losing, a phenomenon coined in China as "Koreaphobia." This was because the Korea Republic National football team and the Chinese team had played 26 matches as of 2006 which resulted in 15 Korean wins and 11 draws. The 2003 East Asian Cup was thus heralded as a prime opportunity for China to end the losing streak against Korea.
As for Korea, the Korean team was embittered over the string of frequent rule violations during previous Korean games and how in 1998, a Chinese player had severely injured Korea’s star forward, Hwang Sun-Hong and thus preventing him from playing in the 1998 World Cup in France.[1][2]
Unsurprisingly, this game was played in a passionate manner on both sides. Tensions during the match peaked when South Korea closed the first half, leading by one point. In the second half of the game, Li Yi, playing forward, kicked Lee's right shin after Lee completed a pass. Recently recovering from ankle injury, Lee, upset at Li's violent play, slapped Li on the back of his head, after which Li Yi started rolling on the ground grabbing his head in apparent exaggeration. The field violence quickly simmered down as the referee awarded a yellow card for Li for exaggeration and red card for Lee for violence[3] though Yi's acting on the field was far from forgotten. Within weeks amused Internet surfers launched a flurry of photoshopped parodies of various TV and movie villains looming over Li Yi's writhing figure.
[edit] Other Matches
In ACL 2005, Yi scored two critical goals in-game and a the third goal in over time, for a 3-1 win against Al-Ahli (Jeddah) of Saudi Arabia.
