Hiddink hopeful of weaving magic

Guus Hiddink has built his career on upsetting the odds, but leading China to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would rank among his biggest accomplishments.

The Dutchman was appointed head coach of the nation's under-21 squad by the Chinese Football Association in September, and the man who famously defied the naysayers to take South Korea to a World Cup semifinal and PSV Eindhoven to a European Cup triumph has no illusions regarding the enormity of the task facing him.

"It's a challenge for me, of course, because I know soccer in China is in a developing state," Hiddink said on Monday at the U-21s' autumn training camp in the Netherlands.