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Charlton midfielder Zheng Zhi says China are “very depressed” at being dumped out of World Cup qualification and are determined to restore some national pride in Sunday’s match against Australia.
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Chinese hopes of qualification ended last Saturday when they suffered a 2-1 loss to Iraq, the result rendering Sunday’s match at ANZ Stadium a dead rubber with Australia already guaranteeing their progression.
Most had tipped China to bring a young Olympic squad for the match in preparation for August’s Games but they have arrived with a near-full strength squad, minus Manchester City’s Sun Jihai who is serving a five-game suspension.
Zhi, 27 and one of the stars of the squad, said the players were still reeling from the failure to progress from the group.
“Everybody is very sad and, you know, the World Cup is only every four years so as a player it is a very big regret that we missed a chance to qualify,” Zhi said after the Chinese squad trained in western Sydney this afternoon.
“For us it was a very good chance to go to the World Cup but we missed qualifying and we are very sad and we feel very depressed.”
Asked why China had sent a strong squad, Zhi said: “Because it is a World Cup qualification match and normally it’s the most important for a national team.
“It’s still the highest class of matches, so what we want to do is have a good ending, play a good match and play for the country and our people.”
Zhi, about to enter his third season with English Championship side Charlton, expected another challenge from Australia on Sunday, who he described as “one of the best teams in Asia”.
The teams fought out a tough 0-0 draw in Kunming earlier during the qualifying campaign.
Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek today admitted he was surprised China had brought a strong squad but knew they still had plenty to play for.
“I’m surprised about that, but I like it because it’s a great test for us and we have to show that we can do it against them,” Verbeek said.
“They were very surprised to go out of this group and they’re now fourth in the group so they will want to show everybody that it was a mistake.
“There was already unbelievable pressure on their shoulders and my feeling is, that pressure is gone so now they can play free.”
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