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 | Saturday, May 06, 2000, updated at 12:25(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Philips Chinese FA Cup to Kick offThe 2000 Philips Chinese FA Cup, one of the only two premier Chinese soccer events, kicks off on Sunday in 10 Chinese cities.There will be eight first division and 12 second division clubs involved in the first round with the winners advancing to the second round. Unlike last year's home-away, two-leg format, this year's competition will be a one-match knockout first and second rounds. Only third, fourth and fifth round play will keep the old system. The first round, with the hosts decided by a draw, pits Shenzhen Ping'an vs Jiangsu Shuntian, Qingdao Hainiu vs Shenyang Haishi, Shanghai Pudong vs Yunnan Hongta, Tianjin Teda vs Guangzhou Apollo, Guangdong Hongyuan vs Changchun Yatai, Guangzhou Songri vs Liaoning Fushun, Wuhan Heart K vs Shaanxi Guoli, Beijing Guo'an vs Henan Jianye, Chengdu Wuniu vs Chinese Army and Xiamen Xiaxin vs Beijing Kuanli. An opening ceremony will be held at the Shanghai Yuanshen Stadium, followed by a match between Shanghai Pudong and Yunnan Hongta. The match is especially meaningful because the two clubs' coaches both used to be head coaches of the Chinese National Football Team and the Chinese National Olympic Football Team, Chinese Qi Wusheng and Englishman Bobby Houghton. Houghton replaced Qi after China failed to qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France, and now Houghton's place has been taken over by Yugoslav Bora Milutinovic, after the Englishman's failure to lead the Chinese team to the Sydney Olympics. Both Qi and Houghton want very much to prove their ability with Chinese soccer, especially in a head-to-head encounter. And the Philips FA Cup provides the only official chance. The two cannot meet in league play since Hongta are in first division and Pudong is in second. Media and fans will be curiously waiting to see if Houghton's English style of play can stop Qi's counter-attack. A loss to a second division club will somehow defame Qi, whose club is joint-first in the 14-team first division after eight rounds. Though organizers are racking their brains to make the FA Cup competition more entertaining to the fans and more attractive to the clubs and players including setting up bonus prizes for the final four, some clubs are still believed to be using the cup as a testing ground to appraise the young players' talents such as Hainiu, Teda and Shenhua. Still some average clubs will regard a cup victory as a morale booster such as Wuniu, Liaoning and Aodong. But bonus prizes, 1.2 million yuan (US$140,000) for the winning team, 800,000 yuan (US$96,000) for the runners-up and 500,000 yuan (US$60,000) for the semi-finalists, will still prove a huge incentive for the clubs and the players, if not for the fans.
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