Editorials

Football philosophy

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-19 07:16

China is proud to be the home of ancient football. But it is ashamed of its players' performance both at home and abroad.

China is visible in South Africa, even though its football team didn't qualify to play the beautiful game at the highest level.

Yan Shiduo, president of Chinese Football Association, is watching how the world's best 32 teams, especially our three neighbors, Japan, the ROK and the DPRK, play the game. The DPRK players' fighting spirit against favorites Brazil is said to have moved Yan to tears.

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We're waiting to see what he will do with the Chinese team after he returns home. Will he cut Chinese footballers' unreasonably high income? Or will he come up with more effective rules to discipline the players who love betting and enjoy chasing girls more than the ball? Is he capable of cleansing Chinese football of match-fixing and betting?

China is proud to be the home of ancient football. But it is ashamed of its players' performance both at home and abroad.

Professionalism is what the Chinese football team needs dearly. Hopefully our three neighbors will teach our football players a lesson. Our players need to catch up with their neighbors, who stand tall with their achievements and fairness.

China is also visible in South Africa in vuvuzela, a plastic trumpet, carried by fans to all the stadiums. Most of these instruments, sold at a very low price across South Africa, were made in China.

But what we want to see at the World Cup is our team, not officials or the inexpensive products we make.

(China Daily 06/19/2010 page4)