Finally there

China hoping to put male soccer on sporting map

BEIJING (AP) -- China's female soccer players are already famous. Now it's the men's turn.

After decades of fruitless attempts, China's men's soccer team has finally made it to the World Cup finals. And while they're hardly strong contenders, just qualifying gives them a shot at the recognition the Chinese women earned despite losing in a penalty shootout against the United States in the 1999 women's World Cup final.

"Their chances of entering the second round are really small, but the point is to gain experience and come back stronger," said Mike Liu, editor of Beijing's Sports Weekly newspaper.

China didn't have much luck in the draw, which put them in group B with powerhouse Brazil and veteran contenders Costa Rica and Turkey.

A soccer-mad Chinese public will be scrutinizing every point, pass and penalty.

China's Serbian coach, Bora Milutinovic, is doing his best to mute hopes, saying fans and players ought to look on this debut outing as a learning experience.

"You need to be realistic. I tell my players, 'Already you make history. You need to enjoy,'" Milutinovic said in an interview at the team's training camp near the southwestern city of Kunming.

Only a few Chinese players have experience in European leagues where competition is most intense.

Moreover, China was little tested in its qualifying run, dominating their competition, which included such soccer minnows as Cambodia, the Maldives and Oman.

China's main Asian competitors -- Japan, South Korea, Iran and Saudi Arabia -- either qualified automatically as hosts or were in other qualifying groups.

That could make their June 4 opener against Costa Rica a rude awakening.

Milutinovic is holding off on picking a 23-man squad until May 15.

While he says the men don't feel any rivalry after the women's success, he concedes it has give his team "special motivation to show we are good."

Soccer is by far China's most popular spectator sport, attracting rowdy crowds to professional games and large audiences for European matches shown on state television.

A network of training schools and an 8-year-old professional league are training a new generation of players, offering them a chance at fame and an escape from poverty.

Chinese fans didn't take at first to Milutinovic after he signed on in early 2000.

They said his coaching style was too informal and his game plan too conservative. It didn't help that two foreign coaches -- Klaus Schlappner of Germany and Bobby Houghton of Britain -- had been fired after brief terms in the job.

Yet the former Yugoslav international brings the experience of having already coached Mexico, Costa Rica, Nigeria and the United States in the World Cup finals.

Public sentiment turned 180 degrees in his favor after success in the qualifying rounds.

Milutinovic -- known to Chinese as Milu -- is now referred to as the "miracle coach" and has become a television pitchman for everything from DVD players to rice wine.

The Chinese team's most successful player abroad has been defender Sun Jihai, 24. He transferred in February to English First Division club Manchester City. Sun had earlier played for a year with England's Crystal Palace.

Strikers Fan Zhiyi, 32, and Hao Haidong, 31, are experienced, but fans worry that they are past their prime. Fan, also a Crystal Palace veteran, is on loan from Dundee in Scotland.

Among younger players, midfielders and fan favorites Li Tie, 24, and Qi Hong, 25, are a potent play-making and goal-scoring team.

Milutinovic says the scarcity of international experience is China's biggest liability.

But he said the team was strong on tactics and field positioning and proved that to itself in qualifiers.

"I think we have very good players as we saw in the qualifications," he said. "Now we need to believe in ourselves."

And he's taking no chances with his players.

After Milutinovic complained that too many were getting hurt in professional games, the Chinese soccer association ordered club teams to bench injured international players. Special medical teams were sent to treat them.

China also has the support of enthusiastic fans, who poured into the streets in the millions to celebrate after the team clinched its World Cup berth last October.

China is playing all of its first round games in South Korea to make it easier for fans to attend.

"Once the flag goes up and the national anthem starts, I stand taller than anyone," Fan said in an interview posted on the Asian Football Confederation's Web site.

 

Related information
Stories
Sun shooting to be China's World Cup star Li Tie brings Brazilian training to Chinese team
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.