Beijing (dpa)
Coach Li Tai, the coach of the Chinese national football team, resigned on Friday, as the team struggled in the Asian World Cup qualifiers.
And the Chinese news agency (Xinhua) reported today, that Li Xiaoping, coach of the Wuhan FC team, will replace Li Tai in this position. Li Tai, a former Chinese national footballer, resigned after two years in charge of the team.
Li Tai and his successor, Xiaoping, participated with the Chinese team in their only previous participation in the World Cup tournaments, in the 2002 edition in South Korea and Japan under coach Bora Milutinovic.
The Chinese team occupies the fifth and penultimate place in its group of Asian qualifiers for the World Cup, before the last four rounds of the qualifiers.
Despite this, (Xinhua) still indicated “a glimmer of hope” about the possibility of the team qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Xiaping will play his first test with the team, when he meets the Japanese national team on January 27. The Chinese team is ranked 74th in the world rankings.
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