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When Xi Jinping came to power, he had three football dreams for China. Here's why he failed
Shuhang Li may be one of China's football team's biggest fans.
But when asked about their recent performance at World Cup Qualifiers, his smile immediately vanished and he started to grumble.
"Of course I'm not happy," said the 23-year-old university student, who has been following the team since age 14.
"No football fans — wherever they are from — would accept that their national football team had such a dreadful performance."
On March 30, after losing to
Japan 0-2 and
Vietnam 0-3,
China's national football team was defeated by Oman 0-2, ending its run for the upcoming FIFA World Cup finals.
It has been 20 years since China last qualified for the tournament.
How did it go so wrong for China?
After failing to qualify for the World Cup this year, former captain of the national football team Xiaoting Feng said China would still struggle to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, and maybe even for 2030.
"The youth are not good enough," he said.
Chinese education does not necessarily teach children the skills they would need on the pitch.
"It's widely acknowledged that great footballers are creative thinkers and very independent people, and they're very good at making personal decisions and personal judgements," said Professor Chadwick.
"So I simply don't think that the Chinese education system is necessarily set up to facilitate the development of the kind of soft skills that successful footballers need to have."
More HERE
The China national football team is currently ranked (FIFA) 77th in the World