The Chinese soccer team will kick off its World Cup warm-up series in Hong Kong in February by joining a four-team tournament.
China will play Hong Kong League XI on February 12 following the match between Honduras and Slovenia. All the teams except the locals have qualified for the South Korea-Japan World Cup in June.
"Hong Kong is my lucky place," "Wonder Coach" Bora Milutinovic told local reporters on Friday.
Milutinovic made a brief appearance at the drawing ceremony of the tournament, which is also called Lunar New Year Cup.
"We started from Hong Kong two years ago. We will start again from Hong Kong. Hong Kong will bring us luck," he said.
After Milutinovic took charge of the Chinese team on January 15, 2000, he picked the Hong Kong team as his first opponent, and won 1-0 on April 25.
"Milu", as he is called in China, steered the soccer-crazy nation to its first ever finals appearance in October, ending its 44 years of World Cup heartbreak.
Milutinovic on Friday predicted China to "fly higher".
"I have learnt never to say no," he said.
"China, along with Argentina and Saudi Arabia, is one of the three best teams in the world," he added, referring to the three teams' best win-loss margin during the World Cup qualifications.
"This is not the first time I am here for Lunar New Year Cup. I was here in 1993 with the United States team, and with Nigeria in 1997." He guided both teams into the World Cup finals.
Yugoslavian Milutinovic had also led Mexico and Costa Rica to the World Cup finals.
(China Daily January 12, 2002)
