Hong Kong football team fans jeer China's national anthem in 2-0 defeat at East Asian Championship

Seoul: China beat Hong Kong 2-0 at the East Asian Championship on Wednesday in the first meeting between the teams since anti-government protests started in the former British colony.

Ahead of kick-off in the South Korean city of Busan, around 150 visiting Hong Kong fans jeered the Chinese national anthem. But with the game played in an almost completely empty Asiad Stadium, there were few other signs of political tension.

Ji Xiang opened the scoring after seven minutes, and Zhang Xizhe sealed China’s first win since Marcello Lippi resigned as head coach in November from the penalty spot with 19 minutes remaining.

Meanwhile, South Korea clinched a third successive regional title with a 1-0 win over Japan.

Hwang In-beom scored the only goal of the game in the first half to give Korea three wins out of three.