As always, an article about China begins with how the CFA is trying to leave it's bribery, corruption and violence scandals in the past, and to rebuild the national team's reputation after poor results in recent years.
The CFA has instituted a long term plan, putting young coaches into key positions in charge of the senior, olympic and women's squads. However, the Olympic squad was eliminated in the round of 16 at the Asian Games in Gwangzhou by what was effectively South Korea's U-21 squad. In group play, an U-21 Japanese team defeated China 3-0. As a result, coach Sun Wei resigned, and has been replaced by Croatian Miroslav Blazevic. The 75-year old coached Shanghai Shenhua to 3rd place in the recently completed Chinese Super League. He signed a 2-year contract on December 11th, and will work closely with coaching staff of the senior national side, including coach G** Hongbo. Blazevic's assistant will be former international forward, Li Ping.
Blazevic coached the Croatian national side to 3rd place in the World Cup 1998, and coached Iran to the World Cup 2002 qualifying playoffs , where they lost to Ireland.
China hope that this side can qualify for the London Olympics, and succeed there, providing a base for the senior side to enjoy success in the future as well.
The 16 teams that have qualified for the Asian Cup have submitted preliminary squads of 50 players to the AFC.
Ali Karimi has made himself available for Iran, and been named in their 50-man squad.
Karimi left the team during a training camp in Austria last August, and was sacked by his club, Steel Azin, for not fasting during Ramadan this season. Karaimi was part of the squad that came 3rd in the 2004 Asian Cup, held in China. "I am ready to rejoin the he national team and help them in the Asian Cup in any way. I believe that Iran has a number of players who are capable of winning the tournament. However, if the coach calls on me to join the squad and assist the younger players, then I am available".
Iranian coach Afshin Ghotbi, who will be stepping down at the end of the Asian Cup, has signed a contract with Japanese club Shimuzu S-Pulse for next year's J-League campaign. Ghotbi's previous experience includes spells as assistant coach of the South Korean national team under Guus Hiddink, Dick Advocaat, and Pim Verbeek. He was coach of Persepolis in the Iranian League, winning the title in 2007-08. He took over the national team last year, replacing former international Ali Daei. Ghotbi will replace Kenda Hasegawa at Shimuzu, who steps down after 6 years at the helm. Shimuzu were 6th in this year's league. Ghotbi's immediate task is improve this, so that the S-Pulse qualify for the Asian Champions League.
Nike have unveiled the T90 Tracer, which will be the ball used at the Asian Cup. This will replace the T90 Ascente as the official AFC ball.
Japan's coach, Albert Zaccheroni, has received good news. Injured defender, Yuji Nakazawa, is due to return to training, and should be available for the Asian Cup. The 32-year old was a key member of this year's World Cup squad. Nakazawa suffered knee ligament damge in trainng with Yokoham F Marinos. "I can run now, and my fitness is improving" However, the news is not so good for Marcus Tulio Tanaka. The Nagoya Grampus defender is almost certainly out of the Asian Cup with a knee injury.
In the Iran Professional League, Hamid Estili, coach of Shahin Busheheer, has been sacked. The club have had a poor season, and currently are last in the league. Pas Hamadan have also sacked their coach Aliaskar Modirrusta, replacing him with Mahamood Yaowari. The team are currently 13th on the table, with 19 points from 18 matches, and Yaowari has another 12 weeks to turn things around.