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Chinese soccer fans pessimistic about World Cup chances

Chinese football fans have given a massive thumbs down to new national coach Vladimir Petrovic, with only four percent expecting the side to qualify for 2010 World Cup finals.

Petrovic has gutted the national side sending seven players packing after a dismal 4-0 loss to German Bundesliga side SV Hamburg over the weekend and only a few weeks before World Cup qualifying begins, the China Daily said.

According to a poll of 21,000 fans by Web site Sina.com, 74 percent of respondents said there was no sign of team improvement since Petrovic took over head coaching duties for sacked Zhu Guanghu four months ago, the paper said.

A whopping 90 percent said they were dissatisfied with the team's last two matches, while only four percent believe that China will make it through the upcoming round of World Cup qualifying.

'Group of death'

"A chorus of pessimism has sung out from the headlines [of Chinese newspapers] since China was drawn in the `group of death,'" the paper said.

During the draw in November for the World Cup qualifying rounds, China was placed in the so-called "group of death" alongside Australia, Asian champions Iraq and Asian Games winner Qatar.

Only group winners and runners-up go through to the final qualifying stage.

The latest team changes resulted in the dismissals of long-time and popular national side members Du Wei and Zhang Yaokun, who were reportedly axed for showing disrespect to coaching staff and negatively influencing team unity, the paper said.

"These players failed to reach the standard during training and warm up competitions," the paper quoted football association official Wei Shaohui as saying.

"We had great expectations of them, especially Zhang and Du, but they failed to make it. If we are not strict, not ruthless at this stage, how will we be able to take on the World Cup and qualify?"

Zhu was dismissed as China's coach following last summer's disastrous performance in the Asian Cup when his side failed to make it through the tournament's first round.
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