SHANGHAI (AFP) - Fabio Cannavaro's short reign as China football coach could already be over after the hosts were beaten for the second time in five days on Monday (March 25) and again failed to score.
The Italian World Cup winner in 2006 was put in charge 10 days ago, but the local media had speculated that the China Cup amounted to an audition to be fellow Italian Marcello Lippi's long-term successor.
If that was the case, the 45-year-old legendary defender fluffed his lines.
The home side followed up last Thursday's 1-0 loss to Thailand with another disjointed display in the four-team tournament, going down 1-0 to lower-ranked Uzbekistan in the third place play-off.
In front of a sparse crowd for the mid-afternoon match in Nanning, China failed to muster a shot on target and there was a smattering of jeers at the final whistle.
Former Juventus and Real Madrid star Cannavaro, who is also coach at Guangzhou Evergrande, said afterwards that he would hold talks with the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Chinese Super League (CSL) club.
"But until now the CFA hasn't made any clear statement about the appointment," he said.
"I have said before: taking over the national football team can be a very big challenge. The bigger the challenge, the greater the passion will be.
Â
Â
"As the national team is experiencing changes, we all have some concerns about the pace and degree of the changes.
"If (China) needs me, I will consider it, but who can be the coach of the national team cannot be decided in one day."
Juggling a top CSL job and the national side "is difficult", Cannavaro admitted, after another meek defeat that left China - who have grand ambitions to host a World Cup and become a major footballing force - bottom of the four sides in the China Cup.
"We still need to calm down and discuss it. If we cannot find a suitable way to cooperate, I will still coach Evergrande (only)."
Cannavaro made five changes to the side lucky to lose by just one goal to Thailand, but it only made the team - missing the rested Espanyol forward Wu Lei - less effective.
They were already on the back foot when forward Eldor Shomurodov took advantage of hesitant defending by Evergrande's Zhang Linpeng on 35 minutes to lash the ball into the roof of the net for Uzbekistan, who are 89th in the Fifa rankings to China's 72nd.
Uzbekistan, soundly defeated 3-0 by Uruguay on Friday, were also the better team in the second half and should have extended their lead, but China-based substitute Odil Ahmedov headed straight at goalkeeper Yan Junling.
In the final, stand-in forward Cristhian Stuani scored his third goal in two games as Uruguay taught Thailand a footballing lesson to win the China Cup with a 4-0 victory.
The 2018 World Cup quarter-finalists hardly missed the injured star-striking duo of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani as they made it seven goals in two games.
Chelsea hold on against Brighton to consolidate top four spot. BRIGHTON: Chelsea consolidated fourth place in the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday that became
Chelsea hold on against Brighton to consolidate top four spot
Man City inflict more pain on Man Utd to go back top. second goal during the English Premier League football match against Manchester United at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England
Football: Man City inflict more pain on Man United to go back
Liverpool's stunning victory over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday was made possible by the belief manager Jurgen Klopp's has instilled in his squad, according to Jose
Jurgen Klopp mentality behind Liverpool's historic comeback
Time for Sanchez, Lukaku to shine. The emergence of an invigorated Manchester United attack has seen Alexis Sanchez (far left) and Romelu Lukaku fall down the pecking order. PHOTO: REUTERS.
Time for Sanchez, Lukaku to shine - theworldnews.net
Madrid, Feb 28 (IANS) FC Barcelona were outplayed by Real Madrid for much of their Copa del Rey semifinal second leg, but the visitors did enough to prevail 3-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate
Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-0 to reach Copa del Rey final
Madrid, Nov 10 (IANS) Real Madrid's interim coach, Santiago Solari, on Saturday praised Welsh forward Gareth Bale while calling for patience with Spanish midfielder Isco Alarcon, who has yet to
Solari remains defiant as Real go out | ClubCall.com
WEST HAM UNITED 3 SOUTHAMPTON 0. Arnautovic ends drought as West Ham sink Southampton. 3 Min Read. Soccer Football - Premier League - West Ham United v Southampton - London Stadium, London
Arnautovic ends drought as West Ham sink Southampton
Messi nets his 50th career hat trick !!! (twitter.com) (best club competition in the world) Messi scored 16 goals against 39 of Cristiano with even more assists.
Lionel Messi nets the 31st La Liga hat-trick of his career
Tottenham Hotspur showed why manager Mauricio Pochettino is a wanted man by thrashing Everton 6-2 at Goodison Park yesterday to close to within six points of Tottenham shine to hit Everton for
Pochettino focused on Spurs success after hitting Everton for
Now we know hat division we are in lets do the annual see who we would keep. A few assumptions. 1) AL has no significiant funds. 2) Loanees like Daniel Iversen we are unlikely to be able to afford, and probably wouldnt re-sign for us, but the sign or release is based on performance not likelihood
Keep up Synonyms, Keep up Antonyms | Thesaurus.com
Europa League semi-finals confirmed: Arsenal vs Valencia, Chelsea vs Eintracht Frankfurt Arsenal vs Valencia; But Arsenal coach Unai Emery knows he must field his strongest XI if he wants
Football: 2018 World Cup watched by record 3.5 billion people, says Fifa French President Emmanuel Macron reacts during the Russia 2018 World Cup final match between France and Croatia at the
More than 3.5 billion people watched 2018 World Cup, says
Bangladesh bowling attack exposed for lack of wicket-takers West Indies' fury at 'dodgy' decisions as Australia get rub of the green. "So we have to use our
Ribs Against the Machine - Glendale, CA - yelp.com
Crowds flock to Argentine village to pay tribute to footballer Sala said Mayor Julio Muller in an emotional tribute. Sala had played for Nantes, becoming one of the top strikers in France
Crowds flock to Argentine village to pay tribute to
0 comments:
Post a Comment