The region faces challenges in developing soccer, report Sun Xiaochen in Shenyang and Cui Jia in Urumqi.

When Erjet, the goalkeeper for the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's under-20 soccer team, buried his face in the grass and wept, the crowd in Shenyang Tiexi Stadium gave him an ovation fit for a hero.

Chants of "Xinjiang urra", or "Going forward, Xinjiang", in the Uygur language echoed around the 30,000-seat stadium as hundreds of Xinjiang fans shouted and clapped to cheer their players after the team lost its first-ever semifinal in the National Games in a penalty shootout.