Why China needs a possession obsession

The time has come for Chinese soccer to embrace a style of play that is both technical and tactical in scope - we like to call it the T-T revolution.

While strides have undoubtedly been made by the national side, a fourth straight World Cup qualification failure tells its own story.

With world-class coach Marcello Lippi at the helm, China finished fifth in its qualifying group, 10 points behind table-topping Iran, three behind second-place qualifier South Korea, and, agonizingly, just one adrift of third-place Syria, which went on to lose its two-legged qualifying playoff against Australia.