CHINA’S FLEETING FUN

China first attempted to qualify for a World Cup back in 1958 – so you can imagine their relief when they finally achieved that goal in 2002. An estimated 170 million new televisions were bought to watch Team Dragon get pummelled by Costa Rica, Brazil and Turkey – the latter of whom also wound up facing each other in the semi- finals. China’s goalless adventure made for tough viewing under legendary Serb Bora Milutinovic, who had previously taken Nigeria, the USA, Costa Rica and Mexico to the knockouts. Bring on 4004.