China football boss ‘focused on solution’ as issues engulf the game – ‘every big problem hides small advantage’
- Serb believes more Chinese players are ‘growing up and taking responsibility’ at clubs after difficulties that have blighted the league
- “I want to build a team that can match the high intensity, duals, and fighting of other Asian teams,’ the 51-year-old Jankovic says
China coach Aleksandar Jankovic is confident he can overcome the well-documented difficulties that have blighted football in the country over the last three years to build towards January’s Asian Cup finals in Qatar.
The 51-year-old Serb was appointed in February having worked for two years as the country’s under-23 coach and has since led the national team into a pair of friendlies against New Zealand in March.
Those matches – a 0-0 draw in Auckland followed by a 2-1 loss in Wellington three days later – were the first played overseas by the senior national team in almost a year as the gloom that enveloped Chinese football throughout the pandemic started to show signs of lifting.
Financial difficulties and the government’s strict zero-Covid policies have generated negative headlines around the game in the country as the high-profile foreign players and coaches who had previously flocked to the cash-rich Chinese Super League departed in droves.
Meanwhile, numerous clubs – including 2020 CSL champions Jiangsu FC – shut their doors and, as the sport emerges into the post-pandemic era, it looks unrecognisable from the set-up that once threatened to significantly disrupt the global game.
Jankovic, though, believes the challenges Chinese football has faced can be turned to the advantage of his team as the countdown to the finals of the continental championship, which kick off on January 12, ticks down.
