SPORTS> Teams
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SPORTS> Teams
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China (Group C)
Updated: 2007-07-07 19:54 Three years ago, China’s national team was making history as they qualified for the final of the AFC Asian Cup. It was the first time the Chinese had managed such a level of success in the continental championship although the team lost to defending champions Japan. Failure to progress beyond the first round of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup finals later in the same year saw the Chinese prompted a change in coach with the arrival of Zhu Guanghu after leading Shenzhen Jianlibao to the Chinese league title in 2004. Zhu’s tenure got off to the perfect start as he guided China to their first-ever international title when they defeated Japan, Korea Republic and DPR Korea in the East Asian Championships in the summer of 2005. Soon after, Zhu led the country’s under-23 team to the East Asian Games title in Macau. China’s squad is built on the strength of the Chinese Super League’s leading sides from the 2006, creating a team focused on players from champions Shandong Luneng and runners-up Shanghai Shenhua. Manchester City’s Sun Jihai brings his experience to the squad as well, having been a key member of the squad that qualified for the World Cup finals back in 2002 while Manchester United striker Dong Fangzhou is seen as one of the bright hopes of the future for Chinese football. But despite the quality of the individuals, the team has struggled and, after a series of poor performances in friendly matches since the turn of the year, expectations have slumped. 1 Li Leilei 22 Yang Jun 29 Chen Dong 30 Zong Lei Defenders 2 Du Wei 3 Sun Xiang 4 Zhang Yaokun 5 Li Weifeng 7 Sun Jihai 13 Zhang Shuai 16 Ji Mingyi 23 Cao Yang 24 Xin Feng 26 Xu Yunlong Midfielders 6 Shao Jiayi 8 Li Tie 10 Zheng Zhi 12 Zhao Xuri 15 Wang Dong 18 Zhou Haibin 19 Zheng Bin 20 Mao Jianqing 25 Li Yan 27 Du Zhenyu 28 Tao Wei Forwards 9 Han Peng 11 Dong Fangzhuo 14 Zhu Ting 17 Qu Bo 21 Wang Peng |
