Chinese footballers are mentally, technically inferior to predecessors, says former international

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese former midfielder Xu Liang said he was not surprised to see the Chinese team's performances fall short of expectations in their FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.

The Chinese side won only once, a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Vietnam thanks to a goal scored by Wu Lei deep into injury time, and lost three times in their first four games of the third round of Asian World Cup qualifiers, putting themselves in the public's firing line.

"The current crop of national team players are weak in tenacity and toughness. They lack character, determination, guts and the like," Xu wrote on social media.

"When it comes to football skills, they are even more inferior. They knew themselves that they are not as competent as some of their predecessors," said the 40-year-old former midfielder, who played for the Chinese team between 2002 and 2006.

"In short, don't expect too much from them," he added.

Due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, the Chinese side will play their next two home games, against Oman and Australia, in Sharjah, the UAE.