Camacho admits overestimating Chinese players
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China Daily, October 21, 2011
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Jose Antonio Camacho. |
China's soccer team coach Jose Antonio Camacho delivered the report about the match against Iraq to the Chinese Football Association (CFA), admitting a gap between Chinese football and his expectations, Guangzhou-based Soccer News reported Thursday.
In his report following China's 0:1 loss to Iraq at World Cup qualifier on Oct 11, Camacho said he should take his responsibility, while highlighting his error in overlooking the differences between Chinese and Spanish players as a major problem, said the report.
The Spaniard admitted he overestimated his players' ability to adjust their performance state and physical condition within the time allocated.
A warm-up with UAE just three days before the crucial group match on Oct 11 is believed to cost the Chinese players too much energy, which then partially contributed to their poor performance in the game with Iraq. Such an arrangement is not usually a problem for Spanish players.
In his report, Camacho also pointed out he has gradually realized the importance of psychological priming for his players before a match and said he and the CFA have already set up an effective communication mechanism, according to Soccer News.
Despite some critics from the media and fans after the match, the CFA also voiced its support for Camacho. "We can not request too much from him, the time left for him is too short to do more, and Chinese football has unique characteristics," CFA deputy chief Yu Hongchen was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
After losing crucial matches with Jordan and Iraq and only a narrow win against Singapore, the World Cup dream for the men's soccer team is dimming.
They are on the verge of being eliminated at the first round of qualifier for the 2014 World Cup, and need to win the rest of the three group matches - a feat which is considered mission impossible by fans. 92.4% of the 65,696 people polled were pessimistic about the future of China's team, according to an online survey by portal website Sina.com.
