China's women's soccer team digests a 1-0 loss to Australia in an Olympic qualifier on Sept 8. The women's Olympic hopes were dashed early. [Photo/China Daily]

"A lot of people said the coach must be changed before the replacement was made, and now they say the former coach shouldn't have been changed. In my opinion, we should figure out the reasons for ourselves instead of using other factors as excuses."

CFA deputy chief Yu Hongchen said Camacho, who is being paid more than 40 million yuan ($6.26 million) a year during his three-year contract, still has plenty of work to do.

He'll set out to discover young talent during the Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs' winter camp, give lessons to domestic players and coaches, and exchange ideas with coaches from the first and second divisions.

"Objectively speaking, the time was so limited for Camacho and his coaching team. Any coach in the world, despite his fame and professionalism, needs at least two years to build a team, before the players can comprehend and display his strategy and philosophy on the pitch," Yu told Chinese newspaper the Information Times.

"The national team is just a window of Chinese soccer, not the whole thing. Camacho will establish a relationship with 16 CSL clubs, and will give regular training classes to club coaches in the future," the newspaper quoted Yu as saying.

Zheng Zheng, the youngest player on Camacho's squad at the age of 22, gave fans some reason for hope, scoring two goals in China's match in Singapore, a 4-0 victory.

"Fullbacks should play like him - he's good at both attack and offense, and has outstanding running ability," retired national team strike Hao Haidong said on his Weibo account after Zheng scored his second goal to seal the game.

Camacho said he would save a place for Zheng in the team's next training camp.

There are more silver linings to be found in the clouds swirling around Chinese soccer.

One day before China's World Cup qualifying exit, the women's Under-16 team ousted South Korea by goal differential at the AFC Women's Under-16 Championship in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. China will play the FIFA's Under-17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan next year.

One month earlier, the Under-19 women's team advanced to the 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup after defeating Australia 3-1 at the AFC Under-19 Women's Championship in Vietnam.

On the men's side, Dutchman Jan Olde Riekerink, who took over China's Under-19 team in August, guided the squad to the final of AFC Under-19

Championship and said he was optimistic about the team's potential.

"My team is playing better and better. We have some high character players on our team; there are also some with speed and fine skills, and they can play good soccer," said Riekerink, who worked at Jong Ajax - the reserve team of Dutch club AFC Ajax - as head of youth development the past four years.

"The Chinese Under-19 team at the AFC Championship will be much stronger than this one. Though Japan, South Korea and Australia are strong sides, my players can play smart soccer and our target is to qualify for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup (hosted by Turkey in 2013)," he said.