The surge in domestic fans' enthusiasm for watching matches was not only evident in the Men's Football Team's games; even women's football matches, which had always drawn little attention, attracted quite a few spectators.
For the women's team's match against Japan's women's team on August 3, several thousand spectators came to the stadium, the vast majority of them chinese fans.
Unfortunately, compared with the National Football Team's outstanding performances, the women's team's showing was somewhat poor.
After losing 0-2 to South Korea in their first match, the women fought hard for ninety minutes against Japan but still failed to defeat their opponents, with the match ending in a 0-0 draw.
As a result, after two rounds, the women's team had earned only one point and was eliminated from championship contention a round early.
Meanwhile, South Korea's women's team secured the title a round early after two consecutive victories.
The women's matches originally had little to do with the men's side, but this East Asian Cup had added an award for the combined men's and women's champions.
The participating nations would be scored based on the combined men's and women's championship standings. Under the tournament's system, each win and draw was worth three points and one point respectively, with the points of each country's men's and women's teams added together.
The nation with the highest total score would win the award and receive a prize of $100,000.
If two nations had the same number of points, they would be compared in order by goal difference, goals scored, and head-to-head record.
A hundred thousand dollars was nothing much to the Men's Football Team. After all, their usual club salaries were already quite high.
Moreover, the Championship Bonus set for the Men's Football Team at the East Asian Cup reached $500,000, a full