Group C: Malaysia, Iran, Uzbekistan, China China Head Coach Zhu Guanghu: The draw is as per expectations and the group is quite balanced, not easy for any one team. I will also focus on the AFC Champions League draw because many of my national team players play in this competition. It is a big challenge and I will keep my eye on them. My target is the semifinals and I will work on this step by step. I think next year’s result will be better than what we achieved on home soil in 2004. ---- Looks like you Zhu-haters will get your wish soon... surely he will be fired if we dont reach his 'target' of semi-finals... not impossible but given the track record of China's play in SE Asia...
This time, let's be conservative and say that we will lose to Iran 3-1. The pressure is on the persians to win. Let the persians parade their victory ahead of time, if they draw or lose, it will be their biggest shame. In the meatime, let's consult with our South Korean brothers on how to beat the persians as they have more experience.
No pressure , if we play at our level then we will beat China for sure , China is not a concern for Iran , I am more concerned about Uzbekistan .
If it's a world cup qualification group I would list the final ranking like this: Iran Uzbekistan China Malaysia Coz China always sucks in world cup qualification matchs. But since it's an asian cup group I shall rank like this: Iran China Uzbekistan Malaysia Coz China does much better in this competition. Save ur words dude, we eliminated u last time, our olympic team also defeated yours 3 years ago, and don't forget how ur u-23 team got such a narrow win over our u-21 team in asian games, so u r not qualified to say u can beat us 4 sure at all, let's see what happens then...
I have a feeling of contradiction. On one hand, I love my country and I hope China can beat other opponents to make good results in Asian Cup. On the other hand, I like to see Zhu Guanghu is kicked out of the position of China Senior NT Coach by means of defeat. I think the Senior NT cannot show the fighting sipirits like China U-23 with the leadership of Zhu "PigHead" Guanghu.
To some degree, I have to admit that I agree with you. I think Iran got a good group and they can enter the next round without any doubt, with the great possibility to gain the NO1 of this gruop. China U-23 can play a draw with Iran bravely and be defeated just by PKS in Asian Games, but China senior NT have no such fighting sipirit and determination. According to the current strength of China senior NT, they cannot make sure that they can win Uzbekistan easily. You can see, they cannot win Iraq wherever home or away, and they even lost points when vs Singapore.
LOL, those Iranians really make me laugh. Their U-23 narrowly beat our 10-men U-21 team in the AG (let's be honest, both teams played poorly) and they all go around boasting about how they can be China easily. I really like this kind of blind chauvinism.
Who should replace Zhu if he gets fired? Problem is there isn't many big names out there. Klinsmann? Doubt he'll ever consider China though. Troussier? Decent but I don't really think he's top-notch.
I think he retired after the 06 WC. The guy is 60 years old. Don't think he'll have the energy to adapt to a completely new environment like China.
First, Zhu isn't being fired anytime soon, so its not realistic to talk about coaching replacements, but...Klinsmann would be a good choice for China, he has the right spirit and, hell, the flight from LA to Beijing is a lot easier than LA to Germany, however, if even half of what has been said about what he demanded from the USSF is true, there's no chance in hell China would want him. As for the group, I'm really happy with it. There isn't a single team that I'm really afraid of. Iran's not going to be easy, but there's no reason why we can't beat them. Beyond them, the other two matches are very winnable for us.
Iran doesnt need to worry about any of the opponents in this group... they need to go worry about themselves... them Iranians might start slapping each other during their match again awww one of my favorite memory from the last AC... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEWBqRC9Uyg
Sure, the AC is half a year away and the CFA prob won't do anything to him until after the AC. But he will likely get the axe if he doesn't achieve the target that he set for himself, that is, reaching the semi-finals, which I think will be a small miracle should it happen.
Does anyone know where the warm-up game against Australia is going to be held? I'll be in Xi'an and would like to travel to where ever it is they're playing.
Right now im waiting for know if the AFC gonna give the accreditation for assist to the matches in malaysia for assit to the match as internet journalist if i get it im gonna fly to there and will be the Bigsoccer and asian red dragon official writer !!!!!