Former China coaches Milutinovic and Houghton still harbor strong feelings for team at Asian Cup

DOHA - The Asian Cup in Qatar is not only an opportunity for the Chinese soccer team to rebuild its morale, but also to catch up with old friends.

They include two of the national side's former coaches, Englishman Bob Houghton, who is now in charge of India at the cup, and Bora Milutinovic, who acted as Qatar's ambassador in its successful 2022 World Cup bid.

"Bora is on our side now," said Qatar coach Bruno Metsu, who led Senegal to the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup. "I know that he likes the Chinese team very much and the Chinese like him because he took China to the World Cup in 2002, but he is helping us now and not China. I am sorry for the Chinese people," Metsu said.

China will meet Qatar on Wednesday, and Milutinovic has been seen regularly at the Aspire training fields over the past week, where the Chinese and the Qataris have been holding their official training sessions. He also appeared at China's opening game with his video camera.

But the 66-year-old said he was not spying for the host.

"I was a coach and a very good fan. I like to know everything and I take my camera because every day you can learn something," said Milutinovic, who became the country's favorite coach after leading China to its first and only appearance at the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.

"I can speak about only two players, Qu Bo and Du Wei, in this Chinese squad, and I'm very happy for them," he said. "Best wishes for the Chinese."

Leading the Indians to the Asian Cup after the nation's 30-year drought in major competitions, Milutinovic's China team predecessor, Houghton, said his side was just like the Chinese squad of 13 years ago.

He also said he was pleasantly surprised by the performance of China's young generation of players.

"This is a very young team and I'm really pleased to see it play so well," said Houghton, whose team was thrashed 9-1 by Kuwait in a friendly in November. "Kuwait is a very good team - as we saw when it won the Gulf Cup, so it was a very important win for China (at the cup)."

Houghton assumed control of the Chinese national team in 1998 and left the position two years later after the team failed to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

He spent several spells with Chinese clubs including Henan Jianye, Zhejiang Green Town and Shenyang Ginde.

Though there is only one player of his time - Du - playing on the current national team, the 63-year-old still cherishes his time in China.

Despite all the ups and downs, he believes this young China team has a great future.

"When I was the team manager in 1998, I really thought China would become No 1 in Asia," he said. "There were a couple of promising players at that time.

"They qualified for the 2002 World Cup and it was a huge boost for Chinese football, but then I don't know what happened. The upward movement seemed to come to an end," he said.

"They (the young generation) have a bright future and the main thing I would want to say to them is to keep going."

China Daily