Lippi avoids a China crisis

– China are searching for a third coach this year after the football association accepted Marcello Lippi’s resignation following a damaging loss to Syria in World Cup qualifying.

A clearly infuriated Lippi (above), the 71-year-old Italian World Cup-winner, made a brief but angry appearance in front of the media after the 2-1 defeat on Thursday in Dubai.

“My pay is very high and I take all the blame. I am quitting as China coach,” Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

“We could beat weaker opponents like the Maldives and Guam, but when we encountered stronger teams like the Philippines and Syria, we could not play our own football.”

Lippi then abruptly left the press conference, walking out before translators had even finished interpreting what he was saying. His second spell as China coach lasted only six matches.

Hours later, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) said in a statement that it accepted Lippi’s resignation.

“We are really sorry that the unsatisfactory results disappoint all Chinese fans,” the CFA said.

“The CFA will seriously reflect, rebuild the team, and try our best in the following World Cup qualifiers.”

Syria’s victory left them comfortably atop Group A in qualifying for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

China are five points behind in second, only above the Philippines on goal difference, putting their World Cup hopes in peril.

It has been a turbulent year for Chinese football and Lippi’s resignation is another dent to the government’s hopes of making the country a superpower in the sport.

The former Juventus and Italy boss, who was broadly popular in China, reportedly earned $25 million per year, making him one of the best-paid coaches in the world.

He first quit the post in January after taking China to the Asian Cup quarter-finals, where they lost 3-0 to Iran, and his compatriot Fabio Cannavaro took over.

But Cannavaro lasted only two matches – both 1-0 defeats – before saying that balancing the job with managing Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande was too much.

That saw Lippi return in May with the aim of taking China to the World Cup.

China languish 69th in the Fifa world rankings and have reached the World Cup only once, in 2002, when they left pointless – AFP