Chinese football team goes to UK, fights break out everywhere

Yet another black eye (and apparently also a broken jaw and an unconscious player) to China’s national football team, this one happened yesterday in London and featured an all out brawl between the Chinese team and the Queens Park Rangers, a division one professional team in the English football system. IHT reports:

The fight Wednesday at Queens Park Rangers' training facility forced the match to be abandoned with Queens Park winning 2-1 about 15 minutes from the end. Chinese player Zheng Tao was knocked unconscious in the brawl and may have a broken jaw.

Chinese striker Gao Lin, who was involved in the initial incident that sparked the fight, is being sent back to China, Titan(a Beijing based sports publication) said.
Footage of the fight aired Thursday by Hong Kong's Cable TV showed Gao throwing downward punches after being picked up by a Rangers player. Both players fell to the ground, then others joined the fight.

We learned more from this Chinese article:

骚乱发生在下半时第32分钟。郜林在前场与对方两名中卫争高空球，对方有一个小动作，被激怒了的郜林落地之后转身推了对方一把。但没想到对方中后卫早有防备，低身躲过郜林的推搡，并顺势将郜林抱了起来，重重摔在地上。顿时形势乱了起来。国奥队员见郜林被摔在地，赶紧冲了上去。 　　殴斗开始了！

Translation: While going for a header, a Chinese player (Gao) was shoved by a QPR midfielder. When Gao later pushed back, the QPR player picked him up and threw him to the ground. Mayhem ensues!

This apparently isn’t an isolated incident. More from IHT:

In a practice game against Chelsea's reserve team earlier this week, Chinese player Dai Lin was awarded a red card and sent off in a match that also featured pushing and shoving

Maybe there is hope for Chinese football yet, we hear Mike Ditka is rumored to be the next head coach.

The Chinese national team is on a two week exhibition tour in UK, invited by Premier League club Chelsea.