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Teacher's Day not for China coach Perrin

Xinhua, September 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

September 10 is China's national holiday dedicated to teachers.

Teacher is a well respected profession in China and all teachers receive greetings, well-wishing and thinks from their students on this day. Well, not all of them, China's national soccer team coach Alain Perrin, for one, is faced with more skepticism than greetings.

Ever since the fruitless draw with Hong Kong, China in their 2018 World Cup qualifier a week ago, Frenchman Perrin has got ants in his pants.

Even if the team defeated the Maldives 3-0 on Tuesday, Perrin still did not get a 'pass' from all fans.

When Perrin took over Team Dragon, in February 2014, his major goal was to lead the team to its second World Cup finals after 2002.

As the Chinese team finally started its quest for a World Cup qualification, its unstable performance shook the faith in Perrin that was earned from the solid show at the Asian Cup at the beginning of this year.

"The Asian Cup halo over Perrin is fading," said Yangzi Evening on Thursday. In January, China won all three group matches with style to enter the last eight in the Asian Cup.

"Clearly a 3-0 win over the Maldives is far from enough for Chinese fans," said the newspaper based in east Jiangsu province.

The victory put China in the second place in Group C, leveling on points with Hong Kong and Qatar led the group with three successive wins.

However, the following away match in Qatar next month will be a real test for China as only the eight group winners and four best second placed teams can advance to Round Three in Asian zone qualifiers.

"No one could have expected the honeymoon between Perrin and Chinese soccer is so short-lived," claimed Information Times based in southern city Guangzhou.

"The trust crisis began with the 2-0 defeat by South Korea in East Asian Cup" said the newspaper. The host team finished second in the four-team East Asian Cup in August.

"Perrin has been questioned by everyone including his own players since then. The criticism reached a new height after the match against the Maldives." Endi