HONG KONG (Reuters) - Slumped in his pitch-side seat at Abu Dhabi's Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Marcello Lippi carried the air of a man defeated long before the final whistle blew on China's challenge for January's Asian Cup. A truncated press conference - at which he refused to take questions - was followed by a swift exit as China's Lippi era ended in despondency. Lippi knows better than anyone the issues he will face when he attempts, once more, to make the World Cup dreams of the world's most populous nation come true. "This is a problem and can be a problem for China in the next few years because at the moment these players are 32, 33 years old and there aren't too many younger players," Lippi said during the Asian Cup. Lippi will hope his return will be greeted by a similar outcome that met his initial arrival as China coach.

Source: The Star May 24, 2019 05:26 UTC