By Wang Wei

China's second-division soccer club Qingdao Halifeng was allegedly involved in a serious match-fixing scandal in its league game against Sichuan Zhigu Wednesday, according to local media in Sichuan.

In the last 10 minutes of the game, Qingdao, which was in total control of the match by holding a comfortable three-goal margin, suddenly gave away their attack while laying siege to the home side's goal.

Moreover, Qingdao defender Zhang Tiangang, whose teammate sub received a phone call right before he went onto the pitch in the late stage of regular time, led his men to open fire at their own goalkeeper instead of Sichuan's. Defender Zhang, guarded by no one else in the midfield, turned around to launch a superb 40-yard fierce "lob pass" to keeper Mou Pengfei, only for the stunned goalie to make a save on his foot.

Seeing the initial "back pass" didn't hit the intended target, Qingdao's Li Ming then made two more similar long-range attempts, the last of which shaved the right post before flying over Mou's head.

It was not until Li made his last pass did the home fans began to know what was going on on the pitch, and booed furiously at what they saw.

Qingdao players, who were clearly on the victorious side, revealed their rage after the referee blew the final whistle for their 3-0 away win. Some of them smashed water bottles fiercely to the ground, looking as if they had lost the game.

"Those were simply some bad back passes," admitted Qingdao coach Cai Sheng at the post-match conference. "We were 3-0 up, our players tried to waste some time in the waning minutes, but unfortunately they didn't strike the ball well due to bad turf conditions."

But when asked how could professional players in the world of football make so many doubtful mistakes in such a "spectacular" fashion in one game, the 37-year-old former Chinese international striker's voice suddenly became tumbled and hesitated.

He then refused to further comment on those passes.

Meanwhile, Sichuan coach Wei Qun also condemned his opponents' lack of sportsmanship following the media's attack. The club, which languishes at the bottom of the league, kept the game's recording on video, as did the TV station.

According to some experts, this event was nothing but a match-fixing or gambling scandal, the only question left is how many players, coaches and mangers are involved.

However, the Chinese Football Association said it is hard to ascribe the game to such category for Qingdao didn't score an own goal or lose the game on passive play, though calls for a full investigation and life-long bans for the relevant footballers filled the nation's media.