(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-25 10:46

CHONGQING - China's coach Vladimir Petrovic has defended his side's rough play as natural for an "attack-oriented" team after his players picked up 17 yellow cards at the East Asian championship.

Park Chu Young of South Korea scores past China's Zhong Lei (L). China coach Vladimir Petrovic has blamed the media for putting too much pressure his squad after they lost 3-2 to regional giants South Korea in their East Asian championship opener. [Agencies]

"We played at home and we were also title defenders. We faced great pressure in each game," the Serbian coach said after China beat Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) 3-1 on Saturday for its only win in the four-nation round robin.

"This kind of pressure made them make some mistakes of this kind on the field."

"In this tournament, I think at least the Chinese team deserved to be named the best fighting team," he said.

"That's why we received so many yellow cards and red cards," said the 52-year-old former star of Red Star Belgrade, nicknamed "Pigeon" for his elegant playing style.

China received eight yellow cards and two red cards in the final game. The team had already been fined $4,500 by the East Asian Football Federation for collecting nine cautions in losing to Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan earlier.

ROK, the inaugural 2003 champions, won the sub-continental cup again with Japan finishing runner-up for the third straight time.

The bookings were partly blamed on China's failure to go beyond the group stage at the Asian Cup last June under Petrovic's predecessor Zhu Guanghu.

China's men's Olympic team gained a reputation for violent conduct when it was embroiled in a notorious mass brawl with English side QPR during a friendly match a year ago.

"Because of the pressure, the players could not have a relaxing psychological attitude on the field and it is normal and natural for them to make such mistakes," said Petrovic.

"That is why we should together create good surroundings for the players, no matter if we are the coach, fans or media," he said.

Petrovic, who guided Dalian Shide to China's double title in 2005, has been under pressure himself since becoming national coach last October - especially after following a dismal 4-0 loss to Germany's SV Hamburg last month.

He believed that the experience here boosted his squad, which was missing Charlton Athletic midfielder Zheng Zhi but featured six under-23 players ahead of its next World Cup qualifier against Australia on March 26 and the Beijing Olympics in August.

China qualified for the World Cup finals just once when it was knocked out in the first round in 2002.

"My players began to believe in themselves in terms of physical conditions and techniques. They may be able to compete in this kind of high-level competition," he said. "They still have to play more important games in the near future and they need not to be too proud."