Chinese men's soccer team had done a good job despite the loss to Iran in a penalty shootout at the Asian Games, Chinese delegation spokesman said here Sunday.

China lost to Iran 8-7 in a penalty shoot-out after the two sides drew 2-2 after extra time in a quarter-final match on Saturday.

"They lost the game but recovered the long-lost spirit," said Zhang Haifeng. "They were high-spirited, going out all in the match, which impressed us a lot. So the result was not that important anymore."

"Especially after they were one man short of Iran, they held onto the shootout," he added.

Iran broke the deadlock in the 39th minute. Borhani Arash got the ball from a long through cross, broke through Chinese defense and scored after bypassing Chinese goalkeeper Wang Dalei.

But before he sent the ball into net, Arash stopped the ball on the line, gesturing for his teammates to come up, which is a very humiliating act. Unfortunately, referee Alghafary Naser from Jordan, who had a clear view of all this, did nothing at all.

After the break, China quickly equalized when defender Feng Xiaoting shot the ball into the net in the 51st minute. But China was dealt a blow when their forward Zhu Ting received a red card for a tackle in the 62nd minute.

But China played more actively after the expulsion and gained slight upper hand with 10 men. Both China and Iran failed to score again during the second half and the two sides went to extra time.

Though Iran gained a huge advantage during extra time, China's Zhou Haibin gave China a 2-1 lead with a beautiful goal in the 98th minute. Iran equalized in the 106th minute with a goal from Khoshkebejari Seyed Jalal.

China lost the game after Zhao Ming missed the target in the shootout.