Lippi says China must keep momentum
BEIJING: China’s f ledgling revival under Marcello Lippi will be tested by Asia’s top team Iran in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday, while Australia need to return to winning ways when they play UAE.
China shocked South Korea 10 last week for their first win of Asia’s final qualifying groups, and Lippi says there is much more to come from Team Dragon.
Elsewhere Japan host Thailand, South Korea play Syria and tabletopping Saudi Arabia entertain Iraq as the road to Russia 2018 heads towards its conclusion.
Lippi, who coached Italy to World Cup victory in 2006, has been hailed as a hero for fashioning China’s rare win over South Korea, which
We worked hard to get the three points we needed (against South Korea). Marcello Lippi
hauled them off the foot of Group A with four games to go.
He said China now need to maintain their momentum. They now lie five points back from an automatic berth and have games to come against Syria, Uzbekistan and Qatar, after their trip to Tehran.
“We worked hard to get the three points we needed (against South Korea),” said the 68-yearold Italian, according to Xinhua news agency.
“But it is not enough to win a ticket to the World Cup. We need to continue this momentum and win the following matches.”
Lippi added: “We still have room to improve. We didn’t play the same level as we did in the last match against Qatar.”
However, playing Carlos Queiroz’s Iran away is a different proposition to last week’s home game in Changsha, and Lippi said China cannot afford to sit back in the Azadi Stadium.
“In the first half, we played too defensively when we were under pressure. I don’t want to see the same 45 minutes in the following matches any more,” he said. — AFP