Former great has hope for Chinese soccer

Terry Venables, a pioneer in Asia soccer and the first manager to develop players from China in Europe, has not given up on today's crop of Chinese talent.

Making his first visit to Beijing after a 13-year absence, the 66-year-old England soccer manager said the most populous nation in the world should pay more attention to its youth.

"The (soccer) standard in China is very good. China has so many people, they must have big chances to achieve something," he said yesterday.