Chinese fans ask national team to disband
Two winless friendly matches against Qatar and Bahrain were the last straw, causing the Chinese team to face a lot of criticism.
In the recent international friendly match, China lost 0-1 away to Qatar on September 7. Three days later, they were held to a 0-0 draw by weaker opponents Bahrain. "These two winless matches have triggered criticism from the Chinese media and fans," according toAFP.
In an article titled "China's football dream is getting dimmer," the news agency wrote: "China is wasting money on President Xi Jinping's ambition to reach the world and host the World Cup. They have just experienced four days of football despair."
SheetTitan Sports(China) cited a reliable source as saying that a senior Chinese government official called the leader of the country's men's soccer team during halftime of the friendly match with Qatar, and asked for information on what happened at Khalifa Stadium, Qatar.
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China did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup. At the 2018 U23 Asian Cup and 2018 Asian Games, the country's U23 teams were also eliminated early. Photo:AP. |
China coach Marcello Lippi is currently the highest paid coach in the world, with an after-tax income of between $23 million and $27 million a year. The man who helped Italy win the 2006 World Cup admitted he was shocked by his team's performance in the defeat to Qatar.
After being held to a draw by Bahrain, a team ranked 38 places lower on the FIFA rankings, on September 10, Lippi said he was "prepared for public condemnation". A large number of Weibo users even called for the Chinese national team to "disband itself".
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Marcello Lippi has led the Chinese national team since late 2016, after helping Guangzhou Evergrande win the Super League three years in a row, from 2012 to 2014. Photo:Reuters. |
According toAFP, Lippi has mentally prepared to leave his seat after the 2019 Asian Cup finals in January next year. In the face of strong criticism, he said firmly: "If the Asian Cup takes place next week, I might be worried. But I have four months in hand for everything to get better," the 70-year-old coach shared.
China’s form improved in the early stages of Lippi’s tenure. They beat Croatia in the China Cup, a friendly tournament held in January 2017. They then beat South Korea and Uzbekistan in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. But from the second half of 2017, things took a turn for the worse. In 21 matches under Lippi’s leadership, China won 8, drew 5 and lost 8. They also missed out on the 2018 World Cup.
One of the biggest problems in Chinese football today is the lack of good strikers, as Super League clubs always use expensive foreign strikers. In the loss to Qatar, China had a lot of possession but their main striker, Wu Lei, had very few good chances.
