Painful World Cup – China watches from the sidelines again

It might be the most populous country in the world, and the one with the most potential, but China seems incapable of locating 11 soccer players who can make it to the World Cup.

Once again it will be watching from the sidelines when South Africa 2010 begins next Friday. But with the government involved in improving the sport, dare we hope the national team can make it to the 2014 Cup in Brazil?

Soccer woes

The country is sitting out this summer’s World Cup in South Africa, having plummeted in the FIFA world rankings. But even worse, the Chinese Super League (CSL) remains embroiled in a corruption scandal.

China’s bid to make it to this year’s World Cup was a disaster, exiting the competition at the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the second successive time.

There are great expectations for the Chinese soccer team, but the fact remains that it has not yet won an Asian title and has only represented the region at the World Cup once, in 2002, when it went out in the first round without scoring a goal.

Rather than laying the foundations for a better future, the national team has moved backwards in the past year.

Gambling, match fixing, dishonest referees and poor performances have made the sport the laughingstock of increasingly indifferent fans and a mounting matter of concern for the government.

Chinese soccer’s misfortunes culminated in the sacking and detention of Nan Yong, head of the China Football Association, and Yang Yimin, his deputy. Media reports say they could be tried this month, with the death penalty the maximum sentence they could get for accepting bribes.

“Our soccer level is really low,” Liu Peng, the sports minister, said. “Fraud, gambling, bad referees and other nasty influences keep cropping up.”

Gao Hongbo was appointed national coach after China failed to qualify in this year’s World Cup and flopped at the Beijing Olympics in front of hometown crowds. He is the seventh man at the helm since 2000.