New China coach Camacho eyes World Cup
Reuters - Sunday 14 August 2011, 05:40
BEIJING - Former Real Madrid coach Jose
Antonio Camacho will shoulder China's hopes of qualifying for
the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, the Spaniard said after
taking charge of the country's national football team on Sunday.
The former Spain coach has signed a three-year contract and
replaces Gao Hongbo.
"I know the goal will be taking the Chinese team to a new
level and leading the team to the World Cup so there's a lot of
work to do and there's also challenge and pressure," Camacho was
quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua.
"Me and my assistants came all the way from Spain and have
been working around the clock every day since the negotiations,
we want to know better about the country and the job."
China has qualified for the World Cup finals only once when
they played in the 2002 edition held in South Korea and Japan
but lost all their group matches and failed to score a goal.
In January, they exited the 16-team Asian Cup at the first
hurdle after finishing third in Group A behind Uzbekistan and
hosts Qatar.
"Football is the most popular game in the world and China is
an important country in the world," Camacho said.
"The national side belongs to the country and the people so
I wish it could get support from all Chinese people and the
media."
China has been grouped with Jordan, Iraq and Singapore in
the World Cup Asia Zone third round qualifiers, beginning September
2.
Four Asian teams will qualify directly for the World Cup
while one will have the chance to make the finals in Brazil via
a two-leg play-off.