Bora is about to do it again, taking 5th National team to WC!
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China finally on the brink of place in World Cup finals
By Jonathan Ansfield
BEIJING, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Seventy years after they first joined FIFA
and 19 years since first taking part in the World Cup, China stand poised
to reach the finals for the first time on Sunday.
Following the United Arab Emirates 2-1 win over China's closest rivals
Qatar on Thursday, China just need one point from their qualifier against
bottom-placed Oman in Shenyang on Sunday to guarantee themselves an
automatic place in next year's finals in South Korea and Japan.
China lead the standings in group B of the final round of Asian Zone
qualifiers with 13 points with three matches to play, while the
second-placed UAE have 10 points with one match left and a vastly
inferior goal difference to China.
Oman go into the match with just two points from their five matches,
scoring just once and conceding 11. It will be a major upset if China fail
to beat them easily.
Reaching the finals would be a huge mental boost for Chinese players and
fans alike after six failed campaigns.
Coach Bora Milutinovic, bidding to become the first man to reach the
finals for the fifth time with his fifth different team, knows exactly what it
takes to qualify.
The Serb is determined to keep his team focused on the only goal that
really matters -- a place in the draw for those finals at the beginning of
December.
China beat Oman 2-0 in Muscat last month and although success seems a
formality on Sunday, Milutinovic is taking nothing for granted.
``Right now I only want to talk about matters having to do with the match
at hand,'' is Bora's mantra.
The head-strong coach, a media spectacle during his two-year tenure in
China, was also keeping silent over speculation he was juggling both his
line-up and his midfield formation.
CLOSE BEFORE
The coach's stubbornness has been echoed by millions of hard-to-please
Chinese fans who have put off celebrating until a World Cup berth is,
without question, theirs.
On the one hand, people have not forgotten the nightmares of China
``choking'' when it could have clinched berths against Iraq in 1993 and
Iran in 1997.
On the other hand, fans are also aware that China's lucky grouping in the
final qualifying round allowed it to bypass old nemeses Iran and Saudi
Arabia in addition to hosts Japan and South Korea, who qualified
automatically.
Drama has been lacking in China's cup run, and the ease in which they
have chalked up four wins and one draw in the final group has caught
even the most demanding fans off-guard.
China has responded to popular pressure with by outscoring opponents
34-4 in all their qualifying matches over the last 14 months.
Chinese vice-premier Li Lanqing congratulated the team on its stellar
performance to this point in a public statement this week, but also urged
caution to assure it gets the job done.
MUCH AT STAKE
After all, there is a lot at stake.
China's corporate-sponsored professional soccer clubs, which replaced
the state as the main breeding ground for talent from 1994, stand to make
millions of dollars in promotions as fan interest swells.
Ticket touts in Shenyang have been among the first to cash in on China's
World Cup fever. Confident of a packed house as Sunday's historic
match approaches, according to the Yangzi Evening News, they have
been selling tickets for double their face value.
Overseas clubs interested in China's World Cup stars might find Chinese
soccer authorities more willing to approve the transfer of top players and
defender Sun Jihai has already attracted attention from AC Milan. |
