BEIJING - Zhu Guanghu is banking on careful planning, playmaker Zheng Zhi, and team spirit to save his job by taking China to the last four of the Asian Cup finals this month.

China's soccer team in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong province, March 2007. Confident Chinese captain Zheng Zhi (front row, middle) believes his team can shake off its indifferent form, get through the "Group of Death" and prove the doubters wrong by making the final of the Asian Cup.[AFP\File]

Some poor performances this year, most notably a first defeat to Thailand in 17 years, have dampened expectations even further and coach Zhu knows he is almost certain to be sacked if China are knocked out before the semi-finals.

Having got his European-based players back in the squad, however, Zhu declared his team "unprecedentedly united" and said the atmosphere in the camp was so good he would have suspected them of being on drugs had he not known better.

"The louder they shout the happier I am," he told Titan Sports after training last week.

"In the past I had to push them all the time but today everyone was crazy! ... It's great!"

Defenders Sun Xiang and Sun Jihai, midfielders Zheng Zhi, Li Tie and Shao Jiayi, and young Manchester United striker Dong Fangzhuo, now have experience playing top flight soccer in Europe.

Zheng is one of three captains named by Zhu along with Sun Jihai and Ji Mingyi.

"He is a player who is always thinking," Zhu said of Zheng. "He is unique not for his skills but for his brain. He is a midfield commander, the real heart of the team."

After being outmuscled by Australia and the United States in friendlies this year, Zhu decided to leave top domestic striker Li Jinyu out of his squad in favour of a bigger physical presence up front.

A lack of goals may end up being China's biggest problem but Zhu is confident that without serious injuries, his team can get past Pool C rivals Malaysia, Iran and Uzbekistan and into the knockout stages.