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Chinese game still kicking, but few are watching
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-22 11:40
BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Dalian Shide were the clear-cut champions of
Chinese soccer this year, winning the top domestic cup and thoroughly dominating
a season in which China's premier league teetered back from the brink.
Not that many people
noticed.
Turn-out was low on Sunday as Dalian captured the China FA Cup with a 1-0 win
over Shandong Luneng at the end of a season in which the country's Super League
managed to shake off many of its scandals -- and many of its fans with them.
On Monday, one of Beijing's top newspapers gave less space to coverage of the
FA Cup final than it did to the departure of Manchester United captain Roy
Keane, which was announced on Friday.
The cup was the crowning achievement for perennial powerhouse Dalian, who
also took top spot in the league rankings and a place in next year's Asian
Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League along with runners-up Shanghai
Shenhua.
"I'm not getting over-excited about winning the league title," Dalian's
Serbian head coach Vladimir Petrovic Pizon said.
"My goal now is to win the Asian Champions League next year. I think the club
and myself are capable of winning it."
After fielding a youthful team on Sunday, Dalian look poised to keep up their
winning ways next year and into the future. The fledgling talent is the product
of an "excellent youth academy", according to Stewart Park, co-founder of
Sinosoc.com, a website devoted to Chinese soccer.
"The influence of Shide Group president Xu Ming is also an important aspect,"
Park told Reuters in explaining the secret of Dalian's success.
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