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China to play int'l soccer friendly agianst DPRK

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-13 12:53

BEIJING - China's U-23 team will play an international friendly against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a tune-up for the London Olympics qualifying, the Chinese Football Association announced Wednesday on its website.

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The team will play a game against the DPRK counterparts on June 3 in Shanghai, which will be the first time Croatian Miroslav Blazevic made his appearance in the largest Chinese city as the U-23 team coach.

Blazevic brought the Shanghai Shenhua club to a third place finish in the Chinese Super League before he was appointed head coach of the U-23 team in December last year. The 74-year-old has become well known among the Chinese soccer fans since he led his national team to win bronze in the 1998 World Cup in France.

The U-23 team will start their London Games qualifying on June 19 against Oman in China before playing the returning leg on June 23.

The national senior team, under the rein of Gao Hongbo, will also play a warm-up against opponents from DPRK on June 8.