Global EditionASIA 中文雙語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: 99re热视频| 久别的草原电视剧免费观看| 花季app色版网站免费| 国模吧2021新入口| 中文字幕人妻偷伦在线视频| 欧洲成人在线视频| 便器调教(肉体狂乱)小说| 草莓在线观看视频| 国产精品亚洲αv天堂无码| hdjapanhdsexxx| 无码av无码天堂资源网| 亚洲av无码片在线观看| 狠狠躁夜夜人人爽天96| 国产AV一区二区精品凹凸| 欧美日韩第一区| 在线亚洲人成电影网站色www| 中国老熟妇自拍HD发布| 日韩国产欧美在线观看| 亚洲天堂一区二区三区四区| 男女特黄一级全版视频| 国产69精品久久久久9999apgf | 67194av| 巨大欧美黑人xxxxbbbb| 久久免费精品一区二区| 欧美乱妇狂野欧美在线视频| 亚洲色婷婷一区二区三区| 精品日韩欧美一区二区三区 | gogo人体销魂baoyu231| 抱着cao才爽的视频| 久久精品无码一区二区三区| 欧美日本一道高清免费3区| 你懂的网址免费国产| 美女大量吞精在线观看456| 国产国语对白露脸| 亚洲男人的天堂久久精品| 国产麻豆videoxxxx实拍| kink系列视频在线播放| 成人免费无码大片a毛片软件| 久久久久夜夜夜精品国产| 曰批免费视频播放在线看片二| 亚洲欧洲一区二区三区|