The men's soccer tournament at Asian Games came to an end on Thursday when Japan beat United Arab Emirates 1-0 in the traditional west vs east clash while the host China suffered another bitter memory with an early exit in the last-16 round.

Defender Yuki Saneto's fierce shot delivered Japan's first-ever soccer gold medal at the Asiad stage and UAE had to settle for their first-ever medal in the tournament being silver.

The last four berths showed the competitions were still the stages between Western and Eastern Asian teams, which are the longtime dominant forces in the area.

In the earlier bronze medal match, the substitute Ji Dong Won became the hero for South Korea when he scored two late goals in a minute to help his side stage a sensational comeback 4-3 victory over Iran.

Combining these two matches, Eastern Asian teams clearly took the upper hand with two wins.

It was not a coincidence. Based on mature professional league and youth-training system, South Korea and Japan gradually became the top two teams in Asia in the recent years.

While the western representatives Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar witnessed some setbacks especially after failing or finding it difficult to qualify for the quadrennial World Cup.

The Asiad soccer is limited to players under the age of 23 and only allows three wild cards for each team to play without age restriction.

Japan, composed of six college players, told losers a big lesson that a mature youth-training system was the necessary groundwork for their success.

China lost its group opener 3-0 to Japan and was defeated by South Korea with the same result in the knockout round.

From the bitter defeats, China clearly saw the gap to opponents in its U-21 team, from which are the main players to play for next year's London Olympic qualifiers.

Chinese soccer, affected by match-fixing, crooked referees, illegal gambling and dwindling youths pools, was in its low tide in the past few years.

Wei Di, the new chief in Chinese Football Association, showed his determination to get the sport back onto the track since taking the position early this year.

"For Chinese soccer, you cannot count on one day to see its advancement," Wei told Xinhua during the tournament.

"Now, what a priority is to get more and more boys back to the soccer field. We have to build up the groundwork first, then promote the league and the youth-training system. After years of patient work, I'm sure Chinese soccer will have a new look," said he.

There are 24 teams in this tournament. Defending champion Qatar failed to impress after failing to reach the last eight.

While Thailand, coached by former Manchester United and England captain Bryon Robson, was a surprisingly upward side from the usually low-profile Southeastern Asian teams.

They reached last eight and nearly stunned Japan with well-organised performances, conceding a goal but showing great potentials.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2010)