Zuo Shusheng is coach of Tianjin Teda, who took part in this year’s ACL. Zuo achieved fame as a player in a the first China side to make an impact since the nation’s isolation under Mao ended. He also captained the side during this period.
China took part in the 1958 World Cup qualifiers, but did not return to competitive international football until the 1976 Asian Cup, where they reached the semi-finals and third place.
They failed to do so in 1980, but would embark on their first true adventure – a bid to qualify for their first ever World Cup.
Apart from Zuo, there were players like Chi Shang Bin, Rong Zhi Hang, Huang Xiang Dong and winger Gu Guang Ming.
In what would be the last qualifiers in which the Oceania group winners took part in Asia, China reached the second group stage where they were drawn with 1980 Asian Cup winners Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the Oceania group winners New Zealand.
China were beaten in Auckland, thanks to a Rikki Herbert goal.
Still, China got the results that gave them a foot in the World Cup, until the last game in the group where New Zealand travelled to Saudi Arabia needing to win by five goals to force a play-off.
New Zealand did exactly that.
Kuwait won the group and qualified, and it was now out of China and New Zealand to determine the second side representing the Asian Zone.
In neutral Singapore, New Zealand pulled off an unexpected win to book their journey to Spain in 1982, with Steve Wooddin and Wynton Rufer scoring the goals.
China had blown a golden opportunity to showcase themselves on the world stage.
It began a depressingly familiar pattern for China: so close to doing something yet so far.
Many Chinese fans consider the “nearly men” of 1982 to be the most talented team the country has ever produced. Nevertheless, two years later China reached the Asian Cup final in Singapore, where they were beaten by Saudi Arabia.
China became one of just three Communist states (the others being Yugoslavia and Romania) to go to Los Angeles in that same year – 1984 – though football was not one of the sports they qualified in.
China remained, up to recently, among the frontrunners in Asia, regularly making the later stages of the Asian Cup.
In 1990 and 1998, they came close to qualifying for the World Cup but ultimately fell short.
It wasn’t until 2002 that they finally did, and it proved anti-climactic, as they were to lose all three without scoring. They then reached the Asian Cup Final, on home soil, two years later.
However, it was from there that things went horribly wrong.
China failed to even get to the second stage of 2006 World Cup qualifying, with Kuwait edging them out.
Then came the 2007 Asian Cup, where China bombed out in the group stages, and most recently the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, where China finished bottom of the group – albeit still taking four points off Australia, an indictment on Verbeek if there was any.
What’s gone wrong with China, who have slipped into mediocrity in a mediocre region, is much debated.
Their talent pool is evidently not all that large relative to the population, but corruption and player discipline seem to be other factors cited.
While the Chinese state represses any dissent and sedition, stifling debate on almost all topics, football is one of the only areas of Chinese life where open and honest debate is actually permitted.
Criticising the national team and FA is a pastime for fans and the media. People talk openly about Chinese football’s problems.
China have been “nearly” men for many years, but now they seem to have slipped into the “never will” category.
Is there really such a huge obstacle to success?
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