Screaming that the referee had been paid to fix the match, hundreds of angry fans set fire to the stadium.
Disgusted, other fans have simply turned elsewhere.
At the red house sports bar in downtown Beijing, a group of fans are glued to an enormous television screen carefully nursing ice-cold beers.
On the screen, Liverpool are taking on Chelsea. The English Premier league is huge in China. David Beckham and Michael Owen are virtually household names.
The owner of the bar, Simon Chen, is a Liverpool fan. As he pulls another beer he tells me why.
"I love Liverpool" he says "they play so well, so beautifully. Their skills are world class. The difference is huge - foreign teams are much better than Chinese teams."
But now even Simon is getting caught up in the World Cup fever.
"This is the first time for us to go to the world cup, so this is fantastic for China and for Chinese football fans. It's like China is finally joining the football world."
Back at their training camp, the pressure on the Chinese team is immense.
On 4 June they take on Costa Rica in South Korea. Four days later they face mighty Brazil. Few give them much chance.
But for most Chinese it is enough that their team has finally made it, to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world's greatest football teams, at what many consider the greatest sporting event on earth.