China lost to Japan in the Asian Cup soccer final. China has blamed everyone for its loss except the most obvious suspect: themselves. The coach refused to take his medal as runner-up on the grounds the refereeing was biased against the Chinese. This is despite Several coaches of opposing national teams complained that China was helped to advance by biased refereeing, and that the team's overall performance has deteriorated since the last World Cup. If the Chinese team had followed there would have been real chaos on the streets of Beijing. The match was always going to be tense, and soccer is well known for mixing sport with acting. The Chinese team played well but were outclassed by a better side. But it is impossible for them to acknowledge that when their opponents were the Japanese. China's coach deserve full sanction by the AFC. Losers never like the refereeing but you don't refuse your medal. Even worse was this statement (via SCMP):

...he (Chinese coach Haan) did not regret his actions. "I would do it again. It's the second time I didn't take my medal. At the World Cup in 1978 the whole team did not go up. Why should we accept everything just because we are sportsmen?"