National team beats Jordan 3-1 in dead-rubber World Cup qualifier

GUANGZHOU - China coach Jose Antonio Camacho and his team will disappear from international matches for some time despite the country finishing its last World Cup qualifier with a 3-1 victory over Jordan at the Guangzhou University Town Stadium on Wednesday.

Now, the coach plans to become a frequent visitor to domestic leagues to discover more talent.

"We will keep on looking for good players for the national team until we have games to play," said Camacho, whose next squad won't be assembled until preparations for friendlies in June.

"We will do what we should do, and I am not responsible for youth development as we already have a Dutch coach there.

"Our current team is very young the average age is below 25 and if they can continue to work like this, we will have an excellent team in three to four years," said Camacho, who was satisfied with the home team's fast play in the second half, which, he said, kept Jordan outside the penalty area.

However, Jordan coach Adnan Hamad haed a different opinion of the virtually meaningless qualification game.

He said the score was a result of the two sides' changed mentality, instead of a reflection of their ability.

"My players didn't play very well today, maybe because the qualifier was not very important for them. Also the Chinese players had no pressure because the group qualifiers are Iraq and Jordan," said the coach, whose team overwhelmed China 2-1 in the sides' first clash in Jordan last September.

"My players made many mistakes; we had lots of chances to score, but we lost. We also have many hardcore players absent from the match, which influenced our defense," he said.

Despite China's elimination, Wei Di, vice-president of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), expressed his support for Camacho the day before the Jordan game.

"Our players may have had the chance to play the round-of-10 qualifiers of Asia under the former training system, but there were many difficulties on the way to the World Cup and the possibilities were slim," Wei said. "It's better to make the decision early, otherwise we will lose another year, which we could use to make improvements. We made a choice between World Cup qualification and the future.

"It might be a little bit expensive for us (to hire a coach), but we have to set our future sights high," he said.

"It was impossible for the CFA to invite a coach like Camacho in the past, but now, also in the Super League, Chinese companies are willing to invest more in soccer, which shows their support and confidence in Chinese soccer. What we should do now is to assist those coaches to make changes."

China Daily

(China Daily 03/01/2012 page24)