China’s national soccer coach Gao Hongbo announced his resignation after a 2-0 defeat to Uzbekistan left the perennially underachieving side’s hopes of reaching the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia hanging by a thread.
The loss in Tashkent on Tuesday left China bottom of their third-stage qualifying group for the next World Cup, with only one point from four games. Only the top three of the six contenders progress.
Despite being the world’s most populous nation and second-largest economy, and money pouring into the domestic game after Chinese President Xi Jinping declared ambitions to host and one day win the World Cup, China remain minnows on the global stage.
The team have only ever qualified for one World Cup finals and are ranked a lowly 78th in the world by FIFA.
“I will leave the national team because of poor health,” Gao told a press conference after the Uzbekistan match, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
However, he acknowledged discussing his future with the Chinese Football Association before the game, according to the Asian Football Confederation Web site.
“We agreed if we couldn’t reach a positive result against Uzbekistan I would stand down from my post,” it quoted him as saying. “As a result of this defeat, I bring an end to my time in charge of the China national team.”
Gao, a former international striker, previously managed the side from 2009 to 2011 and was reappointed in February, after Frenchman Alain Perrin was sacked following embarrassing performances, including a draw with Hong Kong.
Under Gao, China squeaked into the third round of World Cup qualifying, but they endured a humiliating loss at home to war-torn Syria last week and their sole point so far came from a 0-0 draw with Iran.
Gao “failed to mold an effective formation nor playing style for the China team,” Xinhua said, adding that while there were six matches left in the stage, “the performances of the China team have not given the fans any hope.”
However, many fans defended Gao on social media.
“The men’s team is like rotten meat and the coach is like the fridge. The meat already stinks, but management doesn’t think to toss it out for fresh stuff, it just keeps changing the fridge,” one netizen wrote.
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