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We should unite to complete an impossible mission, says Lippi

(Xinhua)    20:32, October 28, 2016
We should unite to complete an impossible mission, says Lippi
Marcello Lippi, China's newly appointed national football team coach, attends a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 28, 2016. (Xinhua/Guo Yong)

BEIJING, Oct. 28  -- The newly appointed head coach of China' s national soccer team Marcello Lippi said on Friday that all the team members should unite as one to slove the problems, completing an impossible mission in the FIFA World Cup Asian Zone qualifiers.

Following the resignation of Gao Hongbo after China lost to Uzbekistan 2-0 in the qualifiers, the Chinese Football Association(CFA) finally named the 68-year-old Italian as the new coach last Saturday.

The World Cup-winning coach admitted the severe challenges his team faced in the qualifiers, but he thought the door to the 2018 World Cup didn' t close completely.

"In the national side, the hope to qualify for World Cup is slim, but we should be united to complete the impossible mission. Now we need to build a strong squad which has cooperative awareness and its own tactics," Lippi said.

He added: "My goal is to help the team, I have watched the 4 previous games, I don' t think our opponents are totally above us. We need to gain confidence in the next match against Qatar, the possibility to qualify will increase if we beat them. If not, we will focus on the next edition of Asian Cup."

Lippi began his first stint in China in 2012 when he was appointed as the head coach of China's Guangzhou Evergrande and led the team to the Asian top podium for the first time in 2013. He quitted the Guangzhou job in 2014, and the two and a half years coaching experience in China's top-flight league has earned him reputation in the country.

He revealed that he had discussed the possibility with CFA to take over the national team years ago, but he quitted the post eventually.

He explained: " It was my honor to receive that invitation, my opinion was to coach the team as soon as my contract with Guangzhou Evergrande expired, but The CFA wanted me to coach the club and national side simultaneously, I can' t manage two teams at the same time. Meanwhile, I usually spent the international break going back to Italy, I wouldn' t have holidays if I coach two teams."

Lippi said that the training list for the Qatar game would be announced soon, and the players from Guangzhou Evergrande would be the backbone in the squad.

"The players have been listed, but we need to confirm with the clubs after the last round of Chinese Super League (CSL). It's not strange that in some great national teams, there are 6 or 7 players from one club, because they are familiar with each other. So I will call more players from Guangzhou Evergrande to play the game against Qatar."

China has suffered a 4-game winless run in the campaign, collecting only one point and sitting at the bottom of the 6-team group which includes South Korea, Iran, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Syria. After a home-and-away round robin, the top two teams will qualify for the Russian World Cup finals directly and the third finisher will enter a playoff with its counterpart in the other group.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)
(Web editor: Du Mingming, Bianji)

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