A South Korean player puts his foot on the trophy after winning the Panda Cup soccer tournament on Wednesday in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Photo: VCG

An under-18 South Korean soccer team has been stripped of the China-hosted Panda Cup trophy they won Wednesday night after making "serious insults" including stepping on the trophy as if it was hunter's kill.  

The incident, with a Chinese journalist saying the Korean players pretended to urinate into the cup, angered Chinese fans on Thursday though the Korean team has apologized for the misbehavior. 

The South Koreans went undefeated in all three games at the tournament in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province. The South Koreans acted like conquerors rather than champions as the young player ignored the universal ethos of sports which underlines fair play and respect. 

The South Koreans apologized shorly afterward, but that seems not to have been enough to calm the anger of the Chinese public. Of course the highroad in all this would be to give the teenager players a chance to right their wrongs.

The South Korean incident has overshadowed the poor results posted by China's team at the event. The underachieving team, which lost all three of its games to Thailand, New Zealand and South Korea, is obviously in big trouble as it tries to find a way forward. 

The team, which is supposed to be a pool of young talent for China's future national team, has made seven managerial changes over the last three years. ­Obviously the Chinese Football Association (CFA) continues to make missteps.

A Chinese soccer fan on Thursday went to the offices of the CFA in Beijing on Thursday and handed officials the photo of a South Korean player with his foot on the trophy, hoping the "humiliation" photo will inspire the governing body to work harder to improve the national team. "Please take a look at the picture and win this trophy back," the fan wrote as the caption of the picture. 

For underachieving Chinese soccer, the only way to stop similar incidents from happening is very simple: They must start winning. China's disillusioned soccer fans continue to wonder just how much longer they have to wait to see that goal become a reality.