China's Olympic soccer coach replaced
Saturday, 19th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Dujkovic, who is Serbian, has not been fired by the association, according to this Xinhua story, but moved to another job. No reason has been given for the change and Dujkovic has not made public comment.
This is the third elite-level coach the CFA has removed from a post in four months; it has now completely overhauled its head coaching lineup for both men's and women's teams. The CFA let national team men's coach Vladimir Petrovic (also Serbian) go last week after a failed World Cup qualifying run. In March, it fired women's coach, Elizabeth Loisel of France, by e-mail after political conflicts with team officials.
Related:
China Fires Men's National Soccer Coach
Au Revoir (Loisel fired)
Tags: Elizabeth Loisel, football, Olympics, Ratomir Dujkovic, soccer, Vladimir Petrovic
China Fires Men's National Soccer Coach
Monday, 7th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The Serbian was hired on an 11-month contract last August. In World Cup qualifying matches this spring, the team tied Australia 0-0 in Kunming, lost to Qatar 1-0 in Tianjin and lost to Iraq 2-1 in Tianjin. China's lone win of the campaign came against Australia, a 1-0 win in Sydney. But China was a lame duck going into the game, with no chance of qualifying. In a statement posted by the Asian Football Confederation, he was positive and gracious but expressed some frustration with the brief amount of time he'd been given to turn the team around.
"Elimination from the World Cup left me very sad but I have had many (positive) emotions which I appreciate," said Petrovic, who was named coach of the year in the Chinese Super League for his success with Dalian Shide in 2005. "The time I have had here was too short to change anything and maybe I could have done better if I had enough time."
Petrovic is the second coach to get canned from the national soccer program in just over three months, after women's team head coach Elizabeth Loisel was let go in late March. China's Olympic team coach, Ratomir Dujkovic, also Serbian, remains in place.
Image: Asian Football Confederation
Tags: football, men's soccer, Ratomir Dujkovic, Vladimir Petrovic
Game Over
Monday, 16th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Sun Xiang (l) and Nashat Ali battle for the ball.
The team's 2-1 loss to Iraq Saturday put the last nail in the coffin. Even a win over division leader Australia June 22 can't help now.
China began this round of qualifying games in March against Australia in Kunming. While the Aussies arrived just a few days before the game and the Chinese team trained for more than a month at Kunming's 1,900-meter altitude, the game ended with China missing a penalty kick and settling for a a 0-0 tie.
The next game, against Qatar, was played in Tianjin, just one hour from Beijing. China suffered a 1-0 loss on a penalty kick. With the team's backs against the wall on Saturday, fans' enthusiasm was pretty low, according to this Reuters report that says only 30,000 showed up to watch at the 60,000-seat Tianjin Olympic Stadium. China's Zhou Haibin scored first in the match, but then the team proceeded to give up two goals and and its World Cup hopes, also waving goodbye to an eight million yuan bonus that the China Football Association had pledged to the team if it qualified for South Africa 2010.
Not surprisingly, head coach Vladimir Petrovic is taking some heat from the media (the Olympic team is led by Ratomir Dujkovic). But history isn't exactly on his side: China missed the 2006 World Cup and was held scoreless in 2002, the first time it qualified for a World Cup.
Image: FIFA.com
Tags: football, soccer, Tianjin Olympic Stadium, Vladimir Petrovic, World Cup, Zhou Haibin
China's World Cup Hopes Wane With Loss
Sunday, 8th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (2)
China coach Vladimir Petrovic has taken some heat from the Chinese media for the lineup changes he made for the match. He benched midfielder Sun Jihai, striker Han Peng and midfielder Du Zhenyu, going instead with a younger lineup including players whom he wanted to get experience before the Olympics.
Sun and defender Li Weifeng got yellow cards in the game, so both will miss the team's next game against Iraq June 14. China now must beat Iraq June 14 and Australia (tied for first in Group A with Qatar) June 22, in order to keep hope alive of playing in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. China played Australia to a scoreless tie in Kunming in March.
China did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Earlier this year, the China Football Association promised an eight million yuan bonus to the team if it qualifies for the 2010 tournament. The players demonstrated the amount of pride at stake when they took this scary oath (translated from Beijing Youth Daily):
"I pledge to advance to the World Cup, which is the professional goal that we strive for… we swear by death to kill along the bloody road of defending the honor of the motherland and realize our youthful dreams."
Image: Xinhua
Tags: football, Li Weifeng, soccer, Sun Jihai, Vladimir Petrovic, World Cup 2010
China Drops Mexico Friendly, 1-0
Friday, 18th April 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China's men's national soccer (football) team lost 1-0 yesterday in a friendly match played in Seattle, Washington, against the Mexican national team. Cesar Villaluz scored the night's lone goal in the 14th minute.This story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer describes the pre-game scene at the stadium; it sounds like Mexican fans were much better represented despite the fact that Seattle also has a sizable Chinese population. "The fans for Mexico was its 12th player on the pitch," said China's coach Vladimir Petrovic.
According to the International Herald-Tribune, the Dalai Lama was also in Seattle this week, to speak at a conference.
Tags: football, Mexico, Seattle, soccer, Vladimir Petrovic