久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)Fran?ais
Sports
Home / Sports / Soccer

Woeful World Cup bid kick-starts soul-searching

No hope for World Cup success if calls for substantial reforms still on paper

By SUN XIAOCHEN | China Daily | Updated: 2025-06-09 09:51
Share
Share - WeChat
Indonesia's players (right) celebrate while frustrated Team China players contemplate failing to make the 2026 World Cup. XINHUA

Let's cut to the chase — the Chinese men's soccer team simply doesn't deserve to be in the World Cup, and it never will until substantial reforms are carried out with commitment and perspective to ensure the game's healthy development in the country.

Frustratingly, yet not surprisingly, the door to the 2026 Cup finals slammed shut barring the Chinese national side entry after a 1-0 loss to host Indonesia in a do-or-die Asian qualifier on Thursday.

With the Chinese men's soccer team's hopes of returning to FIFA's marquee tournament dashed once again, fans and pundits alike have suggested that the underachieving team's knockout actually did the showpiece a favor.

"The presence of this team in the World Cup, should it have made it there, would have compromised the tournament's quality," former Team China captain Fan Zhiyi scathingly said after commentating on the match.

"The team was already lucky to make it here (the third-stage Asian qualifying tournament). They just don't have what it takes to make it further, as simple as that," said Fan, a formidable centerback in China's 2002 World Cup squad.

Only the top two finishers in each of the three groups directly qualify for the expanded 48-team Cup finals to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico next summer, with the third- and fourth-placed teams advancing into a fourth phase to vie for two remaining tickets.

Rooted to the bottom of the six-team Group C with only six points from nine fixtures, Team China has one last, but totally irrelevant, qualifier to play against fifth-ranked follow group minnow Bahrain on Tuesday in Chongqing, where a mixed reaction from the home crowd is expected.

"They owe us so much. We've stuck with them through thick and thin. Yet their performances were far from enough to match the level of loyalty and support of all the Chinese fans," said He Dapeng, an organizer of a Team China fan club based in Shenyang, who's watched all the team's previous nine qualifiers on-site in the third stage.

The continuous decline of the men's game was underlined by the team's performance in the qualifiers, scoring six goals in nine games while conceding 20. The men's national side has now failed to qualify for the World Cup finals for six editions in a row, since its sole appearance in 2002.

This has exposed the game in China is lagging far behind international contenders — even measured by continental standards — on all fronts, from grassroots promotion to youth development and league operations.

What was heralded in 2002 as the beginning of a new dawn for Chinese soccer, with Fan's generation realizing the country's long-cherished World Cup dream, has turned out to be merely a prelude to a series of embarrassments on the international stage.

"This team has been fighting for this goal for over 20 years," Branko Ivankovic, Team China's Croatian head coach, said through a translator in the post-match news conference in Jakarta.

"We believed that if we could reach the next stage from this tough group, we would have a strong chance of qualifying. But we didn't succeed and, as head coach, I definitely take significant responsibility."

Of course he does, after having stubbornly stuck to his one-defending-midfielder "diamond" formation, which has proven incompatible with his players' individual strengths and weakness, resulting in a fragile defense and sluggish offensive transitions.

The 71-year-old former coach of Chinese Super League club Shandong Taishan insisted he's brought together the best of China's talent, while, in fact, some of his selectees on the qualifying tournament roster are not even key players in their respective CSL clubs.

"The one-defender midfield really doesn't suit our players and it's proved a vulnerability in several key matches," Sun Jihai, the former Manchester City defender and a formidable member of the 2002 Cup team, said in a social media post on Friday.

However, all debates over the loss to Indonesia, or the tactics deployed in the team's previous defeats, pale in comparison to the lacks of consistent efforts to improve the youth training system, reasonable investment in domestic leagues and a true culture appreciating the game across the country, said pundits.

"It's time to forget about any quick fix and kick off an overhaul of the sport's entire eco-system in our country," said former China Central Television commentator Huang Jianxiang.

Sun suggested that Chinese clubs should invest more in developing talents at the grassroots level, rather than spending lavishly on high-profile imports for quick results in league competitions, and to do it in a way that respects the rules of the game and matches international practice.

"Maybe we've been obsessed with results at the elite level for too long. It's time to get down to what really matters: Working on youth training and league development with long-term plans and consistent efforts," said Sun, who, in recent years, has been running youth training programs in his native Liaoning province, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Yunnan province.

"We need to help players with true talent, maybe not in size or physical strength at the tender age, learn how to play the game in the right way, with the focus on building strong characters and good habits on and off the pitch.

"Only by doing this with a long-term perspective can we discuss having some success at future World Cups, rather than reflecting on more harsh lessons after another failed campaign," he said.

Most Popular

Highlights

What's Hot
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 久青草免费视频手机在线观看 | 久草资源在线播放 | 国产日韩久久 | 日本a级毛片免费视频播放 日本a级三级三级三级久久 | 在线播放成人高清免费视频 | 日韩久久影院 | 国产原创视频在线 | 久热精品免费视频 | 国产精品久久自在自线观看 | 国产日韩欧美视频在线 | 国产高清美女一级a毛片久久 | 国产三级a | 精品欧美小视频在线观看 | 国产成人黄网址在线视频 | 日本a级毛片免费视频播放 日本a级三级三级三级久久 | 成人午夜精品久久不卡 | 一级做a爱过程免费视频时看 | 天天摸天天爽视频69视频 | 欧美多人三级级视频播放 | 中国一级毛片免费观看 | 九九视频只有精品六 | 免费男女乱淫真视频播放 | 久久99精品视频 | 欧美日韩午夜视频 | 国产在线观看精品香蕉v区 国产在线观看免费人成小说 | 1024色淫免费视频 | 国产精品爱久久久久久久小 | 日本成人在线免费 | 美女日韩在线观看视频 | 亚洲影院在线播放 | 国产免费怡红院视频 | 黄色一级网址 | 日本毛片免费看 | 亚洲一区二区在线视频 | 欧美在线播放成人a | 久久久久久全国免费观看 | 朝鲜美女免费一级毛片 | 欧美精品成人一区二区视频一 | 欧美5g影院天天爽天天看 | 中文字幕区| 久久视频在线免费观看 |