Poor Super League hindering national team: Haan
(Crionline.com)
Updated: 2004-09-14 16:44

   
China coach Arie Haan has claimed that poor quality of Chinese Super League is hindering his work at national team.

Having done a fairly good job in 2004 Asian Cup, Haan is leading his men to Germany World Cup 2006.

The Dutchman made this criticism after watching the biggest match in this season so far - Shenzhen Jianlibao's 2-0 win at defending champions Shanghai Shenhua, as South China Morning Post reported.

The match, which Haan complained as being played at a low rhythm, left Shenzhen four points clear at the top while Shenhua slumped from second to fifth place.

Haan said his job as manager of Chinese national team has become more difficult, as his players didn't play with intensity in league games.

Haan previously criticized the league's reduction of two teams this season, saying it would make his players lack of matches.  Additionally the Asian Football Confederation(AFC)'s insistence on home-and-away mode, rather than a centralized tournament for World Cup qualifying matches, has made the quality of domestic league matches more important.

Haan also noted his team would have only 10 days for preparation ahead of World Cup matches, to compared with two months like before. Therefore, the quality of domestic league must be increased, otherwise problems of various kind would occure.

Haan is more optimistic about Shenzhen's fullback Zheng Zhi despite a series of recent uncharacteristic errors, which culminated in his dismissal for two yellow cards in the space of two minutes in last week's World Cup qualifier in Malaysia.

Haan said Zheng Zhi had a good Asian Cup and lots of positive publicity and it's difficult to get back to the same level. The speculation linking Zheng with a move to Europe has clearly affected him.

Haan confirmed that Zheng Zhi and his injured club captain Li Weifeng will remain the cornerstones of his squad "as long as they play the way they can".

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