NESW SCRIPT TEXT 5
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China has a slim chance of winning Asian Cup
China on Saturday said it does not
have the “best chance” to win the 2015 Asian Cup, held in Australia in January,
after its 23-man squad was unveiled.
“We are not the favorite, we do not
have the best chance,” China’s head coach Alain Perrin said in response to a
question from AFP.
“What I know is that the players are
ready to give the best they can,” Perrin said, adding that “anything was
possible”.
China survived a scare before
scraping into the Asian Cup on goal difference thanks to a late penalty in
their 3-1 defeat to Iraq in March.
That defeat made for a shaky start
for the newly hired former Lyon boss, after he was selected following a lengthy
search to replace Spaniard Jose Antonio Camacho.
“I hope that the efforts the players
made during these few months of preparation, and the team spirit of that group,
will allow us to get past the first round,” Perrin said.
The Frenchman was speaking to
reporters after the players, all wearing suits and in high spirits, were
introduced on a television program from a studio in the southern Chinese city
of Guangzhou.
The 2013 Asian player of the year
Zheng Zhi, who plays for club giants Guangzhou Evergrande, will bolster the
midfield.
Zheng, the team’s captain, was a hit
with fans during nearly three seasons at Charlton Athletic and a year with
Scottish giants Celtic before returning to China to join Evergrande.
China has a woeful record at a
national level. The team won only two of their six qualifiers and has their
work cut out at next year’s tournament with tough competition in the form of
South Korea and defending champions Japan.
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