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| 中国足球是从头开始(再次).China's soccer team (in red) walks off after losing to Iraq, 1-0, at the Asian Zone World Cup qualifier on Nov 11 in Doha, Qatar. It was the latest setback for a team that's had little recent success. |
中国足球是从头开始(再次).No World Cup (again), no Olympics (again) - Chinese soccer is starting over (again), Tang Zhe reports.
You can find "Made in China" almost anywhere in the world. International soccer is one glaring exception. Things began falling apart in June, when the Under-23 team was booted from qualifying for the Summer Olympics by Oman. The women's team was then eliminated at home in September, erasing all hope of a Chinese soccer presence in London next year.
Two months later, the men's senior team ended Chinese fans' last hope with an early exit from qualifying for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
This is the third consecutive time China will stand outside the last round of Asia qualifiers.
Under coach Gao Hongbo, China became one of the five seeds in Asia with impressive friendly results, avoiding an early clash with rivals Japan, South Korea, Iran and Australia.
However, the team lost three games against Jordan and Iraq, and only managed two victories against Singapore under new coach Jose Antonio Camacho.
The team's exit puts Camacho at the center of debate.
Is the Spaniard, who replaced Gao in August under the sponsorship of Dalian Wanda Group, good enough to be called world-class?
Should the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and Wanda be blamed for changing coaches at the wrong time?
Camacho rarely talks to Chinese media due to the language barrier, but the CFA and team captain Li Weifeng said the coach shouldn't take the blame and should have more time to develop a program.
"Chinese soccer was on the wrong path over the past 10 years. We always made mistakes, and when others were moving forward with great strides, we were retreating. This is the reality," Li said. "We can't blame Camacho for the loss, we didn't give him enough time (to prepare for the matches), and it's unfair to criticize him.
"Since we have invited the coach to China, we should be patient and believe in him. Obviously, Chinese players' understanding of soccer strategy is of a certain distance from the coach's requirements it's just like if you asked a Chinese table tennis coach to teach a Zambian team.
"A lot of people said the coach must be changed before the replacement was made, and now they say the former coach shouldn't have been changed. In my opinion, we should figure out the reasons for ourselves instead of using other factors as excuses."
CFA deputy chief Yu Hongchen said Camacho, who is being paid more than 40 million yuan ($6.26 million) a year during his three-year contract, still has plenty of work to do.
He'll set out to discover young talent during the Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs' winter camp, give lessons to domestic players and coaches, and exchange ideas with coaches from the first and second divisions.
"Objectively speaking, the time was so limited for Camacho and his coaching team. Any coach in the world, despite his fame and professionalism, needs at least two years to build a team, before the players can comprehend and display his strategy and philosophy on the pitch," Yu told Chinese newspaper the Information Times.
"The national team is just a window of Chinese soccer, not the whole thing. Camacho will establish a relationship with 16 CSL clubs, and will give regular training classes to club coaches in the future," the newspaper quoted Yu as saying.
Zheng Zheng, the youngest player on Camacho's squad at the age of 22, gave fans some reason for hope, scoring two goals in China's match in Singapore, a 4-0 victory.
"Fullbacks should play like him - he's good at both attack and offense, and has outstanding running ability," retired national team strike Hao Haidong said on his Weibo account after Zheng scored his second goal to seal the game.
Camacho said he would save a place for Zheng in the team's next training camp.
There are more silver linings to be found in the clouds swirling around Chinese soccer.
One day before China's World Cup qualifying exit, the women's Under-16 team ousted South Korea by goal differential at the AFC Women's Under-16 Championship in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. China will play the FIFA's Under-17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan next year.
One month earlier, the Under-19 women's team advanced to the 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup after defeating Australia 3-1 at the AFC Under-19 Women's Championship in Vietnam.
On the men's side, Dutchman Jan Olde Riekerink, who took over China's Under-19 team in August, guided the squad to the final of AFC Under-19
Championship and said he was optimistic about the team's potential.
"My team is playing better and better. We have some high character players on our team; there are also some with speed and fine skills, and they can play good soccer," said Riekerink, who worked at Jong Ajax - the reserve team of Dutch club AFC Ajax - as head of youth development the past four years.
"The Chinese Under-19 team at the AFC Championship will be much stronger than this one. Though Japan, South Korea and Australia are strong sides, my players can play smart soccer and our target is to qualify for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup (hosted by Turkey in 2013)," he said.
