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China eyes WCup last 16
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GUANGZHOU Evergrande coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said Chinese football is on track to being world-class within five years after its loss to Barcelona at the Club World Cup even as China set its team the target of reaching the World Cup last 16.
President Xi Jinping is an avid football fan and the country is training an army of young players it hopes will help the nation rise from 84th in the world rankings, just above Qatar and below teams, including Jordan and Gabon. Iran is Asia’s highest-ranked team at No. 45. South Korea and Japan are 51st and 53rd, respectively.
“We will strive to build our national team into a strong and competitive squad on the world stage and get ready a bid for the World Cup,” Cai Zhenhua, president of the Chinese Football Association, was quoted as saying by Xinhua yesterday.
“It will take us 10 to 20 years or even longer to achieve (top 16).
“As everybody knows, we still have a long way to go. But we hope through steadfast efforts we can make it to the top 16 at the World Cup some time in the future.”
Guangzhou Evergrande, coached by the World Cup-winning Scolari, is Asia’s club champion but China’s national team has a long way to go to achieve glory at the global showpiece tournament.
But Scolari has hailed the growth of the game in China and lavished praise on his players, following another successful season in which Evergrande won a fifth successive Chinese crown and a second AFC Champions League title in three years.
“There is still a gap between us and the rest of the world,” he said after his team’s 0-3 defeat to Barcelona. “We’re not world-class yet but we’re heading in the right direction and it’s important we keep going. We’re learning all the time.
“It may take four or five years for Chinese football to catch up to the world but we will keep pushing,” the Brazilian added.
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