Marcello Lippi on a mission to boost China’s future, starting with clash against South Korea
The Italian says his team still need work to reach the standards of Asia’s top teams but the future is bright
Marcello Lippi takes an inexperienced China squad into the opening East Asian Championship soccer fixture against South Korea on Saturday afternoon with one eye firmly on the future and one peering back at the past.
Tokyo’s Ajinomoto Stadium is where, almost eight years ago, China registered their first-ever win over the 10-time World Cup qualifiers, and the two nations face off at the same stadium with the head-to-head record having shifted little in China’s favour since.
Lippi became only the second China coach – Gao Hongbo was in charge for the win in early 2010 – to record a win over the Koreans when, in March this year, his side secured a morale-boosting 1-0 victory that briefly reignited the country’s World Cup qualification hopes.
Those faintly flickering embers were eventually extinguished in September as China missed out on a place at yet another World Cup, while the Koreans booked their place in a ninth straight finals.
It is that record of continual qualification, even through periods of relative mediocrity such as the Koreans have endured over the last 18 months, that leaves Lippi staring somewhat enviously at Shin Tae-yong, his Korean counterpart.
“Japan and South Korea are both top Asian teams,” said Lippi of the nations he most hopes China can one day emulate.
