Players of the Chinese women's national soccer team huddle together and celebrate their victory against their South Korean opponents during the AFC Women's Asia Cup India 2022 final match in Navi Mumbai on February 6, 2022, to become Asian champions. Photo: VCG

China beat South Korea 3-2 from two goals down in the dramatic final of the AFC Women's Asian Cup on Sunday night and won its record-extending 9th title since the last championship in 2006.

"If faith has a color, it must be China red!" The Chinese Football Association said as it congratulated the soccer girls over their epic game, nicknaming them "steel roses, the pride of China," as countless soccer fans shed tears behind the scenes for the incredible feat that the Chinese women's soccer team delivered on the night. 

Despite being two goals behind South Korea in the first half, the Chinese women's national football team scored three in the second half with two goals scored in just five minutes. 

Winning the championship for the ninth time 16 years later, the team beat twice-defending champions Japan 4-3 in a penalty shootout and entered the final, for which it hadn't qualified since 2008. 

It was the first time for the South Korean women's national football team to enter the final and their solid defense was believed to be the key that secured them to set up the showdown.

Media reported that head coach Shui Qingxia said at a press conference before the game that "the whole team is adjusting physically and mentally to prepare for all kinds of difficulties in the final."

Shui admitted that as a formidable adversary, South Korea has many excellent players who played quite flexibly on the ground.

"But the most important is our attitude and mental status, especially how you face difficulties during the game, given the various changes of the match," Shui emphasized. Shui encouraged her team to have firm faith and more confidence, and to be brave in showing themselves, caring less about the previous games with South Korea.

She burst into tears at the team's victory, and was nicknamed by netizens as "eternal God" after boldly replacing the experienced but injured player Wang Shuang with the young player Zhang Linyan in the second half. Zhang scored the second goal for the team 11 minutes after the replacement.

"Despite being two goals behind in the first half, we kept encouraging ourselves to attack and attack because we know we can win them back. We have grown into a completely new team after going through so many things last year. We came here to seek the championship with full confidence and we did this!" said Zhang Linyan with tears in her eyes.

The team held the Champion Trophy at the award ceremony of the AFC Women's Asian Cup in Mumbai, India with laughter, tears and a combination of complex feelings.

After claiming the championship, the women's soccer team is expected to acquire a large bonus as high as 10 million yuan ($1.6 million). The team is expected to depart Mumbai on Monday, and will be placed under quarantine after arriving in Shanghai, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. 

The topic occupied hashtags ranking from top to eight on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo, with more than several hundred million views and comments as of press time. Countless thrilled netizens commented that "The whole team is worthy of every praise."

"This is also what the men's team should do! I ask the sponsors to pay higher wages and the public to give much more of their attention to the ladies! " some netizens commented, as they felt disappointed and frustrated on men's team, especially after the Chinese men's national football team was defeated by Vietnam on Tuesday in the World Cup 2022 qualification.

"We all know how exhausting it is for the Chinese soccer girls, who were in the 120-minute hard-fought battle with Japan; and we all know how much pain it is to play with injury; and we all know how difficult it was to achieve a two-goal comeback in 45 minutes… but, more than that, we can always believe in Chinese women's soccer! The epic reversal has brought China back to the top of Asia in the field, and these girls deserve all the praise they can get!" commented the People's Daily online. 

On Sina Weibo, on WeChat, or on any other social media platform used by Chinese people, were tearful comments and excitement for the epic gold. 

"Only the faithful soccer fans in China know how incredibly long we have waited for such a moment," said a 38-year-old soccer fan surnamed Chen.