Syria's 1-0 victory on Thursday shocked fans in the Chinese city of Xi'an who took to the streets.
China has said it wants to become a "world football superpower".
But the loss means the team could now miss out on a place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
China is ranked 78th in the world whereas Syria is 114th, just ahead of North Korea. The Chinese team faces Uzbekistan on 11 October which will decide if they qualify.
Tencent's sports website said large group of fans gathered on the streets outside the Zhuque stadium, demanding the resignation of Cai Zhenhua, president of the Chinese Football Association after the game.
"Resign, resign, resign!", they are heard shouting in a video posted to Twitter.
Online, fans were equally critical of the Chinese team's performance.
"The Syrian football team has proved that we aren't strong and victorious," said one user on micro-blogging site Weibo.
"I'm going to hide my face now," said another.
"My blood pressure literally rose when I was watching the game," a user said.
"Syria, a war-torn country who can't even afford to buy their own shoes or shirts, whose manager earns a monthly salary of 2000 yuan, defeated China whose players earn millions," one person said.
Syria, who play their home matches in Oman due to the war, has seen almost five years of armed conflict.
Earlier this year, China laid out an ambitious plan to become a "world football superpower" by 2050.
The country's President Xi Jinping, a football enthusiast, previously said he wanted China to win the World Cup in 15 years.
The country also wants 50 million children and adults playing the game by 2020.
"The president of the country is pushing for football," Sven-Goran Eriksson, who coaches the Chinese Super League, told the BBC earlier this year.
"He wants China as a national team to be big, to be better in football."

An aircraft transporting Jeffrey Fowle, 56, landed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base early on Wednesday.
Mr Fowle was greeted by his wife, children and relatives upon arrival.
A US state department official said the agency was working to secure the release of two other US nationals, Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae, who remain in detention in North Korea.
There were tearful scenes as Mr Fowle was reunited with his family.
His children were brought to the base without being told their father would be on a plane home.
Following the arrival, a spokesman for the family said Mr Fowle was feeling well.
He was treated well by his captors but has requested privacy as he readjusts, his spokesman added.
When asked directly how he felt, Mr Fowle gave reporters a thumbs up.
The US had earlier accused North Korea of using detained Americans as pawns in a diplomatic game.
Mr Fowle, 56, entered North Korea on 29 April and was detained in early June as he was leaving the country. He was charged with "anti-state" crimes.
He was reported to have left a Bible in the toilet of a restaurant in the northern port city of Chongjin but his family have insisted that he was not on a mission for his Church.
Missionary activity is considered a crime in North Korea.
In August, he and fellow detainee Matthew Miller made a televised appeal to the US government to help secure their release.
Responding to the appeal, the US authorities vowed to make securing the release of the detainees a "top priority".
Mr Miller was later sentenced to six years' hard labour for committing "hostile acts".
Washington had been trying to send high-level representatives to negotiate the detainees' release but those visits were cancelled by North Korea in recent months.
Pyongyang has denied accusations that it is using the arrested Americans as diplomatic bargaining chips.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has said there was "no quid pro quo" in Mr Fowle's release this week.
"We are very concerned about the remaining American citizens who are in North Korea, and we have great hopes that North Korea will see the benefit of releasing them also as soon as possible," he told reporters.
Angry Chinese fans have called for the resignation of the president of China's football association, after the country lost to Syria in a World Cup qualifier.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A US citizen released from detention in North Korea has been greeted to an emotional homecoming in Ohio.