Opinion | Wings clipped: Why China’s home bird goalkeepers could be holding back the national team’s World Cup dream
China has depth in its goalkeeping ranks but to take the next step and fulfill an elite league destiny, they need to be exposed to better football abroad
By now, everyone knows that the implausible sums recently poured into Chinese football are part of president Xi’s plan to improve the nation’s desperate footballing fortunes with an eye on one thing, lifting the World Cup.
Wang, a keeper that his coach at Shanghai Shenhua, former England international Ian Walker, said could one day play in the English Premier League, let in four goals
The last action before China’s clubs took a week off was for the CSL’s representatives to play in the AFC Champions League.
It was a mixed bag of results for them as the group stage reached the halfway stage and it was their goalkeepers that came under scrutiny.
China and Guanghzou Evergrande No 1 Zeng Cheng certainly had a week to forget. At 2-0, the keeper was under no pressure but punched a corner behind him for Muto Yaki to tap in on the line. Zeng then let in a last minute goal to squander two points, sprawled on the floor and leaving the holders bottom of their group.
A bad day at the office for Evergrande’s Zeng Cheng