I asked, The Economist Answered
Our post last week about a European soccer star signing with Chinese domestic league team Shanghai Shenhua included questions about why China, with a passion for the game, cannot produce world class players or teams, domestically or internationally.
Today I found the Dec. 17 article The Economist posted. Now I feel like I have some answers.
Why China fails at football
Little red card
The telling reasons why, at least in football, China is unlikely to rule the world in the near future
Dec 17th 2011 | from the print edition
The Buddha tells the people he can fulfil only one of their wishes. Someone asks: Could you lower the price of property in China so that people can afford it? Seeing the Buddha frown in silence, the person makes another wish: Could you make the Chinese football team qualify for a World Cup? After a long sigh, the Buddha says: Lets talk about property prices.
THE pass back to the goalkeeper seemed routine for Qingdao Hailifeng FC in its match against Sichuan FC in September 2009, even if the ball was struck a little too hard and the keeper only just managed to stop it running past him and into the net. Qingdao was safely ahead 3-0 with two minutes left in a meaningless match in Chinas second division. What could be amiss?
Then a Qingdao assistant coach gestured for the keeper to come forward from the penalty area. Another Qingdao player promptly chipped the ball over him and towards the net, missing an own goal by inches. The final whistle blew soon afterwards.
Qingdaos owner Du Yunqi was irateat his teams utter incompetence. As he would later admit to investigators, he had just lost a bet that there would be a total of four goals scored in the game. His humiliated assistant coach said on national television, Afterward the boss was angry and scolded me, saying I bungled things and couldnt even fix a match.
The hapless case of chip-shot gate, as the Qingdao game came to be known, is just one low point in aeons of Chinese footbal! ling ine ptitude. The only time China qualified for the World Cup finals, in 2002, its side failed to score in any of its three matches; the team has never won a game at the Olympics. And Chinese players are sometimes too incompetent not only to win matches, but also to rig them.
Today I found the Dec. 17 article The Economist posted. Now I feel like I have some answers.
Why China fails at football
Little red card
The telling reasons why, at least in football, China is unlikely to rule the world in the near future
Dec 17th 2011 | from the print edition
The Buddha tells the people he can fulfil only one of their wishes. Someone asks: Could you lower the price of property in China so that people can afford it? Seeing the Buddha frown in silence, the person makes another wish: Could you make the Chinese football team qualify for a World Cup? After a long sigh, the Buddha says: Lets talk about property prices.
THE pass back to the goalkeeper seemed routine for Qingdao Hailifeng FC in its match against Sichuan FC in September 2009, even if the ball was struck a little too hard and the keeper only just managed to stop it running past him and into the net. Qingdao was safely ahead 3-0 with two minutes left in a meaningless match in Chinas second division. What could be amiss?
Then a Qingdao assistant coach gestured for the keeper to come forward from the penalty area. Another Qingdao player promptly chipped the ball over him and towards the net, missing an own goal by inches. The final whistle blew soon afterwards.
Qingdaos owner Du Yunqi was irateat his teams utter incompetence. As he would later admit to investigators, he had just lost a bet that there would be a total of four goals scored in the game. His humiliated assistant coach said on national television, Afterward the boss was angry and scolded me, saying I bungled things and couldnt even fix a match.
The hapless case of chip-shot gate, as the Qingdao game came to be known, is just one low point in aeons of Chinese footbal! ling ine ptitude. The only time China qualified for the World Cup finals, in 2002, its side failed to score in any of its three matches; the team has never won a game at the Olympics. And Chinese players are sometimes too incompetent not only to win matches, but also to rig them.
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