China opens its Asian Cup campaign against co-hosts Malaysia
today with head coach Zhu Guanghu warning his players to leave
nothing to chance.
Zhu's caution comes after a series of upsets in the tournament
so far.
On Sunday co-hosts Vietnam, playing its first Asian Cup tie in
47 years, shocked the Gulf Cup champions United Arab Emirates 2-0.
At the same time, favorites Australia needed a last-minute goal to
salvage a point against unheralded Oman.
In the opening game on Saturday, co-hosts Thailand did better
than expected by drawing 1-1 with Iraq.
"Thailand even showed signs of winning the match in the second
half. The same thing happened during Vietnam's match as they scored
both goals in the second half," said Zhu.
"It means the hosts have a big advantage after 45 minutes as the
heat and humidity works their favor.
"Balancing energy in the two halves is very important for us.
And we also have to hold on in the second half and take every
minute seriously. A moment of distraction may cost us points."
Zhu's men completed their preparations with an unconvincing
warm-up win against Melbourne Victory last Wednesday.
But their last full international friendly was on June 2 when
they were thrashed 4-1 by the United States.
Under-pressure Zhu has been told by the Chinese Football
Association that he will be sacked if the team fails to reach the
semifinals.
"The first match is very important if we want to advance into
the knock-out stage. I know there are difficulties as visitors but
we have to win."
After the opener against Malaysia, China will face tougher tasks
against three-time champions Iran, and Uzbekistan, Asia's
fifth-ranked team.
With Iran odds-on to make the top two, China's July 18 shoot-out
with Uzbekistan is shaping up as the crunch fixture in the
tournament's 'group of death.'
Zhu blamed the disastrous result against the United States on
the absence of many key players, but with the country's best
players at his disposal there can be no excuses this time.
Playmaker Zheng Zhi, impressive during a loan spell at Charlton
Athletics last season, leads several players with European
experience including Manchester City's Sun Jihai, Manchester United
forward Dong Fangzhuo, Sheffield United's Li Tie and Energie
Cottbus midfielder Shao Jiayi.
Defenders Du Wei and Sun Xiang also have had loan spells at
Glasgow Celtic and PSV Eindhoven respectively.
China was runner-up in the last edition of the Asian Cup but
have since gone backwards, dropping nearly 30 places in the FIFA
rankings and failing to reach last year's World Cup.
Zheng was part of the team that lost in the 2004 final against
Japan in Beijing, and he said the first match would be crucial if
the team wants to progress as far again.
"Of course, there was a lot of pressure for us to do well as the
hosts in 2004, but being the home side also gave us many advantages
then," he said.
"This time we have to meet the hosts in the opening match and
that could be a very tough test for us.
"We got a lot of confidence from the support of our fans back
then, but now we are playing away from home and we will need to put
in a greater effort to emulate that performance in China."
(China Daily via Agencies, July 10, 2007)