Football
ESPN staff 7y

Gregorio Manzano: China needs long-term coaching plan

Former Shanghai Shenhua coach Gregorio Manzano said he ultimately passed on the opportunity to coach China because he felt that he needed a long-term approach to be successful.

Marcello Lippi's first game as China manager on Tuesday ended in a frustrating 0-0 World Cup qualifying draw with Qatar.

Manzano, in end-of-the season comments made on his own website, said that he was offered the job Lippi ultimately took, but passed because Chinese officials wanted immediate results.

"It was necessary to speak about mid- and long-term plans for their national team," Manzano said. "I told them about my vision and my proposal to take over the team until the Asian Cup in January of 2018.

"I explained to them that one needs to time to build a strong, forward-looking team. They were only interested in immediate results and I told them I couldn't promise something that was nearly impossible to do, which was World Cup qualification for Russia."

The former Malaga, Atletico Madrid and Mallorca tactician joined Shenhua at the start of the year and took them to fourth place in the league, their best showing since 2010 to earn a spot in the AFC Champions League. The Chinese Super League club sacked him last week.

The Spaniard, who joined Shenhua after two seasons at Beijing Guoan, said he knew that taking on China for a five-game contract would be challenging.

"At the time that we held the meeting, China had earned only one point and they were last in their group. They needed to win their five remaining matches," he said. "In addition, they were constantly changing their players and their system and without a set group of starters.

"So in my opinion, that was an immediate problem and to solve that, well, it takes time."

Tuesday's draw means China have yet to pick up their first win of the campaign having lost to Uzbekistan, Syria and South Korea with their two points coming from draws against Iran and Qatar.

As the qualifying campaign hits the halfway point, China are nine points behind group leaders Iran, who lead South Korea by a point. Uzbekistan are third, on nine points.

The top two teams qualify automatically for the World Cup, with the team in third going through a two rounds of playoffs.

"A contract for just five matches in the group qualifying stage would also have obligated me to give up coaching Shenhua and that was not in my best professional interests," Manzano said. "I thanked them for thinking of me and showing interest and I asked them to consider me in the future."

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