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I am proud to play game in Dalian, says China coach Gao Hongbo

Xinhua, June 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Coach Gao Hongbo said he was proud to play a game in the beautiful city of Dalian as his team will host Kazakhstan in a warm-up match for the final phase of Asian Zone World Cup qualifying tournament.

It will be the first time for the national team to play a game in Dalian since 1997 and Gao said he was very excited about it.

"I am proud to lead my team to play game in Dalian, it' s a beautiful city which has a long history of soccer. Six players in my team are from Dalian and I hope they can have a good game tomorrow."

Born in Dalian, China' s defender Feng Xiaoting comes back as the team captain. He said it was a good experience for him.

"As a player from Dalian, I feel happy to play game with the national team in my hometown, although I have left Dalian for years."

When asked about the opponent Kazakhstan, Gao admitted he didn' t know much about the team.

"They have been in UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) for years, we didn' t know much about them. Tomorrow we will focus on our own game. We will try to let our players get familiar with our tactics and prepare for the World Cup qualifying tournament," he said. Endit