True Devotion: 41-Year-Old Dong Fangzhuo Breaks Down in Tears, Apologizes to China’s U23 Team—But Warns: “You Can’t Win by Defending Alone”

In the early hours of January 25, the U23 Asian Cup final ended in heartbreak for China. The U23 national team suffered a heavy 0–4 defeat to Japan, falling short of the title. After the match, 41-year-old former international Dong Fangzhuo posted a video on social media sharing his thoughts on the team’s performance. Throughout the clip, he became visibly emotional—breaking down in tears more than once as he spoke about the current state of Chinese football.

During China’s run to the final, Dong had repeatedly questioned the team’s defense-first approach. At one point, he described their progress as “chocolate that still tastes like crap,” a remark that drew intense criticism and backlash from many fans.

This time, after witnessing the 0–4 loss to Japan, Dong admitted he was deeply shaken. He opened with a direct and heartfelt apology: “First of all, I want to sincerely apologize to the U23 coaching staff and players, and to all the fans. Some of my previous comments were inappropriate. They hurt the players’ hard work and they hurt the passion of the supporters. I want to formally apologize to everyone.”

He went on to say the final left him overwhelmed with emotion. “After watching this last match against Japan, I have so many feelings,” he said—before his voice cracked and tears began to fall. Fighting through the moment, he added, “To be honest, the players made history by reaching the final, but we also clearly saw the gap between us and the top teams.”

From there, Dong shifted to what he felt mattered most: the direction Chinese football needs to take. In his view, the team cannot rely on defense alone—especially if it wants to grow beyond individual matches or short tournament runs.

“In the biggest moments, what I really want to express is this: a team with ambition has to have dreams,” he said. “You can’t limit your goals to one match or one tournament. More importantly, we can’t depend on just one style of play to try to win games. I hope our team can become more versatile on the pitch.”

He stressed that a complete team must be able to attack as well as defend—and must have answers when the game turns against them. “I hope we’re not only able to defend, but also able to attack. When the opponent scores first, how do we break through? That’s something we have to think about,” Dong said. “We have to dare to try. Losing isn’t the scariest thing. The scariest thing is not daring to try at all—and even worse is being afraid of the challenge.”

Dong was blunt about the limitations of purely defensive football. “You can’t base football on luck,” he said. “If you only defend, you’re relying on the other team to miss shots, to get no deflections, and on your goalkeeper to stay perfectly focused at all times. If you only defend, you won’t truly win—you can only try your best not to lose.”