CRIENGLISH.com China sets home courts for Asian Cup qualifying www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-20 16:21:42 BEIJING, Jan. 20 -- The Chinese Football Association has picked up Guangzhou, Tianjin and Changsha as the home courts for the Asian Cup qualifying. According to local media reports, Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, will host the first match on February 22nd. Tianjin, a northern port city, some one hundred kilometers east of Beijing, will stage the second game on August 16th. Changsha, capital city of central Hunan province, will be the third home court for the Chinese team on November 15th. China will take on Singapore, Iraq and Palestine in the group stage. To date, Palestine's home court location is still unclear. They had previously suggested to set the court in Gaza. That idea has been ruled out by the Asian Football Confederation.
why didn't they pick Tianjin for the Feb or Nov. match so that the Singapore, Iraq or Palestine can freeze to death?
can't complain about those choices, they haven't played in those cities in awhile and Changsha and Tianjin have the 2 best grounds in China. Tianjin has hosted a number of Chinese qualifying and friendly games lately, I think its becoming a very preferred destination due to its proximity to BJ, its proximity to the MNT training facilities at Xianghe, and its closeness for the majority of hardcore fans.
dont forget tianjin's stadium is a new football only stadium no damn running tracks! i think cina should biult or convert more football purpose stadiums. its only better for the fans
yeah, I know. China could use a few more football specific grounds, but its unlikely that will happen anytime soon.
I think our Motherland does have a lot of nice Stadiums. Heck, we have better Stadiums and security than South Africa. When are we gonna get to host the World Cup? This time it's in Europe, next time it's in Africa, and then probably in CONCACAF nations, after that it's back to Asia right? So maybe within 20 years?
The WC is now supposed to be on regular rotation between each content and I would imagine that the next Asian WC would be in China. There are some decent venues (by capacity, NOT by fan experience/enjoyment) around the country as basically every city of a few million people has an all-purpose (read: horribly large track) stadium that holds at least 40,000. As for modern soccer specific venues, there are only 2, Chengdu and Tianjin, from experience Tianjin is beautiful, haven't been to Chengdu, but it looks just as nice. While Hongkou sucks for CSL games, I'd imagine it would be a great site if you get a full house. Beyond that, the rest are all huge, aging stadiums. Beijing will be set nicely with the Olympic Stadium and I think there are plans (either under way or in the future) to improve aspects of WuLiHe (hell, buying light bulbs for the bathroom would be a major improvement) as Shenyang is posturing to host some parts of the Olympics. A WC in China is definitely a possibility (the next Women's WC is to be held in Guangzhou, as it was forced to be changed a few years ago due to SARS). However, its all speculation because Asian won't get a WC again until 2018, a lot can happen in all that time.
What do you mean Hongkou sucks for CSL games? The pitch and seats are okay. Nothing else is ready for tourists. The nearby neighborhood would also need to be revamped.
I just mean that the atmosphere in it sucks. Its a big stadium and when there's only 10,000 or less inside it, the atmosphere is lacking. The Shenhua fans are pretty well organized, but other than the supporters sections behind each goal, there is like nobody there and very little fan involvement. I don't mean to single out Hongkou, as this is a problem in many of the CSL grounds. Not ready for tourists? I think you could easily get Hongkou ready for a major international competition. The only thing its really lacking is concessions, though it has ample room for them (and the people to walk around) in the concourse area. The subway could easily transport the majority of fans though they must be very insistent on usage of the subways, because if you took cars or buses, you wouldn't be there until halftime.