Disastrous low for Chinese soccer

"It is an unacceptable failure, and is not only due to problems with skill but is more about problems with morale, team management and patriotism," read an open letter of apology from the Chinese Football Association (CFA), released on Monday after the national team's humiliating 1:5 loss to Thailand on June 15.

The loss was yet another blow to the tattered reputation of the Chinese men's football team, resulting in an unusually efficient contract termination with Spanish coach José Antonio Camacho on Monday, as well as three apology letters from the CFA, the national team, and the team administration, all in an effort to tackle massive public outrage.

The apologies were not accepted. The humiliation inflicted upon Chinese soccer fans by the litany of losses runs deep, and the woes of the soccer team have come to represent a microcosm of China's social problems, particularly corruption.

The authorities have held several meetings in the wake of the sporting disaster in an effort to find a solution, yet fans seem to have given up on the current system and are calling for a complete overhaul.    

Superficial remedies

Coach Camacho was hired in 2011 with a reported annual salary of 2.8 million euros ($3.75 million), and another 1.5 million euros for his previous team, making him the most expensive coach the team has ever had.

The former Spanish national and Real Madrid coach headed the Chinese national team in 20 matches and lost 11, including the early loss in the 2014 World Cup Qualifier last year and a consecutive three losses in friendly matches in June.

"He ignored the importance of ground passing, which suits the team, and had poor communication with players and the CFA, especially regarding player selection," Wang Hong, a Beijing-based sports commentator and former athlete, told the Global Times.

The national team has had 11 coaches since 1992 including seven foreigners, resulting in an inconsistent style of tactics.

Camacho should take some responsibility, but firing him is again an excuse to avoid the real problems that have brought endless failures, no matter who came to coach," Ma Dexing, deputy editor of the Changsha-based Titan Sports, told the Global Times.

The CFA is still struggling to resolve the issue of the potential 7.26 million euros required to end Camacho's contract. Then there are the "major problems" discussed in the apology letter, such as a lack of professionalism, patriotism and proper management.

The team's forward, Gao Lin, said that the team was simply "weaker" than their Thai opponents, a claim which was lambasted by many members of the public, who pointed out that the Thai team was a youth team and as a second-string team wasn't regarded as a serious rival.

"It's time to reexamine the situation where the main players on the national team are from the same club and some highly-paid players have passive attitudes when playing national matches. The team often looks terribly disorganized on the field," said Jin Shan, a sports commentator.

"We all saw their superficial problems of morale, fighting spirit and that they underestimated rivals (such as the Thai team), but the CFA needs to figure out the cause," said Wang.

Overturn the system?

The national soccer team had a review session on Wednesday, during which Yu Hongchen, deputy director of CFA, vowed to seriously reflect upon the problems and make changes, while Camacho submitted a report saying that Chinese players should learn to really understand "competitive and team spirit."

Netizens have joked that anyone can point out problems in Chinese soccer, but "institutional degradation" is the ultimate one, caused by corruption and poor youth training systems.

The country's tempestuous soccer scandals from 2009 to 2012 involving corruption brought down 58 officials including former chiefs Nan Yong and Xie Yalong. It has had a positive effect, but nepotism, bribery and match-fixing are still pervasive at the local level, said Wang.

"Age fraud starts from high school, and it's an open secret that schools hire professional players as 'external aids' for campus competitions to make officials happy," she said.

The commercialization of the Chinese Super League and the success of the Guangzhou Evergrande Club in the AFC Champions League in recent years has played an important role in rejuvenating the sport, but the industry is still governed by the CFA with decision-makers that change every four years, who know little about the industry and use short-term administrative measures to intervene in the industry's development, said Ma.

"There's no supervision system over player selection and it's always money that buys you the access to higher level teams, which is a reflection of the entire society's mentality of pursuing short-term gain," Zhao Huamin, a former youth player in Shanghai, told the Global Times.

"Perhaps it's better to just disband the team or the CFA and establish an evaluation system for club players to link their performance in national matches to their income," Jin boldly suggested.

Dwindling players

The CFA did not reply to Global Times queries regarding the number of registered soccer players as of press time, but official data in 2011 suggested there were just 8,000. China used to have 4,000 private clubs in late 1990s, but only dozens now remain, said Liu Jiangnan, president of the Guangzhou-based Evergrande Football School.

"I don't want my son to become poorly-educated because I sent him to play soccer, and many parents think the same way," a mother surnamed Yang from Beijing, told the Global Times.

The shrinking population of soccer participants and issues with training are considered by British soccer superstar David Beckham, who is now the ambassador for Chinese soccer, to be the major problems facing the sport in China. "The foundation construction might take 10 years or longer, but that's imperative," he said Tuesday in an interview with CCTV.

"Playing soccer doesn't mean giving up on education if we take training back to campuses and establish a solid system to select children in different age groups and really improve facility construction. That could change the sport in 10 years," Jin Zhiyang, a famous coach, told the Global Times.