Cannavaro Out As Chinese National Team Coach, And Guangdong Sweeps Way To 9th CBA Title |
Posted: June 20, 2019 |
The China Sports Column is a SupChina weekly feature in which China Sports Insider Mark Dreyer looks at the week that was in the China sports world.To get more coach china, you can visit shine news official website. “An increasing sense of farce is enveloping China’s national soccer team after Fabio Cannavaro quit as caretaker head coach amid speculation that his predecessor, Marcello Lippi, could return to the job in which he underwhelmed.” It’s not often that the perfectly damning indictment of Chinese football can be found in China Daily, given the extensive “editing” process, but on this particular occasion, the paper absolutely nailed it. Former World Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or winner Cannavaro has followed Lippi through various coaching roles in China, first going to Guangzhou Evergrande, then branching off to make his own mark with Tianjin, before a return to Evergrande, and taking the reins of the national team squad after Lippi’s retirement in January. But his attempts to replicate his mentor’s achievements have been largely unsuccessful. The dual role of managing the national team while still taking charge of Guangzhou Evergrande was never likely to be a long-term arrangement for Cannavaro, with both sides appearing to feel out the situation before committing to any sort of solidified deal. Cannavaro had claimed ahead of the China Cup tournament in March that results there would be irrelevant to whether or not he would take the job full time, but losses to Uzbekistan and Thailand in the span of just five days in Nanning helped make the decision easier. In a Weibo post this week, he wrote that he had decided to give up the job as head coach of the national team “out of respect for the great country of China,” adding that his twin roles distracted him from his family. Debate followed over whether or not Cannavaro was indeed up to the task, but the most surprising news then stemmed from Italy, amid reports that Lippi — who has continued to advise Cannavaro from afar — might jump back into the Chinese hot seat. It should be stressed that Italy’s sports tabloids are about as reliable as global transfer speculation connecting out-of-favor foreign players to “unnamed Chinese clubs,” but with no other candidate — domestic or otherwise — really in the frame, it is just possible that the CFA’s begging could twist Lippi’s arm. In truth, it’s an impossible job. Chinese football could — and should — improve incrementally over the years, pending a drastic overhaul of the soccer system from top to bottom. But to achieve World Cup qualification for 2022 remains an ambitious goal despite unrealistic expectations from above that can sometimes border on the realm of fantasy. Lippi had long said he wanted to leave the job well before his eventual departure in January, despite the CFA repeatedly offering to renew his contract, and, at 71, you wonder what could make him change his mind, given that he had already turned down a huge amount of money.
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