African Football and the Emergence of China

It seems to be a strange connection but there is actually a link between African football (soccer) and the emergence of China as a global economic and political power. This link was recently manifested during the Club World Cup competition that took place in Abu Dhabi and that saw that rise of TP Mazembe of the DRC. The team reached the final of the tournament and was defeated by Inter Milan of Italy. Some fans thought, wrongly in my view, that the referee had a hand in the defeat of their team. That is where China comes into the picture. Mistaking the Japanese referee for a Chinese, some fans who were already disgruntled with the economic presence of China in DRC went on the rampage in the city of Lubumbashi, destroying Chinese property. And so football and globalization interact in an African city and Africans do not appear to be the winners.