The kids are all right: China soccer team is growing, says Marcello Lippi as coach turns to new generation
Italian is building his team around core of youth to try and transform China into World Cup qualifiers
As China’s hopes of winning the East Asian Championship title receded to nothing in the aftermath of Gen Shoji’s winner for Japan on Tuesday night, Marcello Lippi was already looking to the future.
A second game without a victory at such a low-key event was of little real importance to the Italian in the context of the job he was given just over a year ago.
With China’s World Cup prospects floundering in the latter days of Gao Hongbo’s ineffective reign, Lippi was handed control with only one point on the board from four qualifiers last November.
Qualification for Russia was never a realistic possibility, and even if China had miraculously booked a place at the finals – Lippi somehow kept the country’s hopes alive until the last round of matches – an ageing team with little major tournament experience would surely have struggled at the finals.
Instead, the 69-year-old has been charged with delivering something more significant as he seeks to lay down the foundations for a team that cannot only erase a damning decade and a half of disappointment, but turn China into serial World Cup qualifiers.
