Under-fire Li refusing to concede Cup dream is dead

Team China coach defends tactics after Oman draw infuriates fans

Team China's 1-1 draw with Oman on Thursday left its hopes of qualifying for the World Cup hanging by a thread, turning up the pressure another notch on already besieged head coach Li Tie.

However, after being bombarded with calls to resign on social media following the game, Li refused to concede that his team's dream of reaching next year's finals in Qatar has all but disappeared.

"Soccer is a magical sport, and I will always love it. We should face all our difficulties with a smile. Working harder is the highest respect we can show to ourselves." Li wrote on Weibo on Friday.

In what was essentially a must-win game for China in Emirati city Sharjah, Li's tactical decisions again riled fans.

China started the match on the front foot, with naturalized pair Luo Guofu (aka Aloisio) and Alan heavily involved and instigating wave after wave of attacks.

That pressure paid off in the 21st minute when Wu Lei fired home to break the deadlock.

However, much to the dismay of fans, Li replaced midfielder Xu Xin and naturalized forward Luo Guofu in the 67th minute, and from there China's momentum began to unravel.

Amjad Al-Harthi equalized for Oman in the 75th minute and left China needing something of a minor miracle to qualify from Group B.

With second-place Australia up next on Tuesday, followed by third-place Japan on Jan 27, China would need to pull off a series of unlikely shocks to even earn a third-place playoff spot, never mind qualify automatically for Qatar 2022 with a top-two finish.

Li's men currently sits fifth in the six-team group, with just four points from five games. With a match against group leader Saudi Arabia also to come in March, the only winnable-looking games from China's remaining fixtures are against Vietnam and Oman.

While no one expected the final phase of Asian zone qualifying to be easy for China, the feeling among fans and pundits is that Li's tactical and selection decisions have made the task even more difficult.

"No team can be perfect in each match, and no player is perfect. So the job of the head coach is to get the team to perform to at least 80 percent of its ability in tough matches. Now China is operating at about 40 to 50 percent. The critical mistakes as regard tactics and the use of players are obvious," Chinese soccer commentator Huang Jianxiang wrote on social media.

"We know the strength of our Group B rivals. So how would the Chinese Super League teams play? They would use three or four foreign players. If we use the same tactics giving more chances to the naturalized players, how can we lose to Oman?

"The players of the national team are stronger than the CSL teams, and we have three Brazilian-born naturalized forwards and a naturalized defender. So what's the problem?"

Li faced heavy criticism earlier in the campaign for not starting some of China's naturalized players. Three started the Oman game, but his lack of faith in the foreign-born contingent was again evident when he benched Luo Guofu.

Afterward, Li defended the decision, saying: "It's normal to switch players like that. Based on the situation of the teams at that time, I felt Luo Guofu was tiring. And our defense on both wings was not ideal, so I was attempting to strengthen our control of midfield."

Former Team China boss Zhu Guanghu, who coached the national side from 2005 to 2007 when Li was still an international, insisted the main problem lies with the players not their coach.

"Every coach has his or her own ideas. Li Tie definitely knows more than anybody else about the opposition, the condition of his players, including the naturalized players," the 72-year-old told media.

"Very few of the current crop of Chinese players are hungry for soccer... It's just like what (former Manchester United manager) Alex Ferguson said about Chinese players－they can play the ball well when not being challenged, but when under pressure with limited space, they cannot do it.

"It's too late to deal with their deficiencies at national team level, this needed to be done when they were young."

Team China's qualification cause has not been helped by the loss of home advantage.

With the COVID-19 pandemic dashing their hopes of enjoying home support on home soil, Li's men have faced long-haul flights and extended stays in bio-secure bubbles abroad since the final phase of Asian zone qualifying kicked off in September.

"Maybe some fans might say I'm making excuses again, but the fact is we've been staying in these bubbles for about 90 days. So I'm really proud of my players who have stayed positive. To represent the nation and keep fighting, they have sacrificed many things," said Li.

"We haven't played a single match at home in the final phase of qualifying. We've done basically everything we could. It's a pity we did not win on Thursday. With home advantage, we might have produced a different result."

Echoing his coach's sentiments, Luo Guofu vowed Team China won't give up on its World Cup dream until it's mathematically impossible to qualify.

"Thanks for all the support. We will fight to the end," the Guangzhou FC star wrote on social media. "It's always an honor to wear the shirt of the Chinese national team."