China? You can go to the finals! 24 years ago, he wrote a great story, but the fans were shaking their heads
Feb 14, 2025
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"I believe the Chinese national team has the power and potential to reach the 2026 North-China World Cup finals," Milutinovic said at the Golden Ball Awards held in China on the 13th. Before the ceremony, he met with the current Chinese national team coach, Branko Ivankovic, saying, `Ivan was very confident and gave me confidence that he would make it to the finals" he said.
Milutinovic is China's Hiddink. Having qualified for four consecutive World Cup tournaments, including Mexico (river 8, 1986), Costa Rica (river 16, 1990), the U.S. (river 16, 1994) and Nigeria (river 16, 1998), he took the helm of the Chinese national team in 2000. After finishing fourth at the Lebanon Asian Cup that year, he easily passed the final qualifying round for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, leading his first-ever trip to the finals. China, which met Brazil, Costa Rica and Turkey in Group C of the finals, lost all three games and was eliminated from the group stage with 0 points to 9 goals. However, he is remembered as a hero in Chinese soccer until now, 20 years later, as he is the first coach to lead China's long-cherished trip to the finals.
China is at the bottom with 2 wins and 4 losses and 6 points (goal difference -10) as of now, having played 6 games in Group C in the 3rd Asian qualifying round for the North-China World Cup. They have the same points as third-place Indonesia (1 win, 3 draws and 2 losses, 6 points, goal difference -3), but are behind the goal difference. However, since the point difference with second-place Australia (7 points) is only one point, if they win the remaining four games, China's second trip to the finals is not just a dream as coach Milutinovic expected.
Coach Ivankovic is also fully prepared. Last month, he called up players to conduct a training camp for the national team, accelerating his efforts to strengthen his capabilities. Recently, Oscar Maritou, a striker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who played for the Chinese Super League's Changzhou Xunx, is also in the process of naturalization.
Chinese fans are skeptical about Milutinovic's "Dutdam" performance.
When Milutinovic's remarks were reported on the Chinese portal Tencent, fans responded with self-help, such as 'A little exaggerated expression', 'Is the World Cup going to be held again' and 'It's much more difficult than in 2002'.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
