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Credited with giving the world the most beautiful game on earth, China PR, has had its fair share of ups and downs in football. For a while, China PR was the 'sleeping giant' of Asia. Tried as they could, yet the ticket to the World Cup finals remained elusive.
That is, until the year 2002 when Bora Milutinovic guided his side to a historic 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the final World Cup qualification rounds for Asia. The results meant they would, together with Saudi Arabia, host Korea Rep and Japan represent Asia in the FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan.
Although they failed in all their matches, the 2002 World Cup was the turning point for China PR. Moore of their players are now plying trade in Europe including Sun Jihai (Manchester City), Li Tie (Everton) and Shao Jiayi (1860 Munich). Fan Zhiyi, Yang Chen and Xie Hu are other players who have played in Europe.
In 2004, they hosted the Asian Cup and brought the nation to its feet when they qualified for the finals only to lose narrowly to Japan. All seemed so bright for Chinese football.
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