Once again the pod find themselves forced to answer the questions of whether the China national team has hit a new low, just how this big-spending football-power-in-waiting manages to underachieve so badly, and why things seem to be getting worse.
We pull no punches in discussing where responsibility lies – is Fabio Cannavaro a fraud or a scapegoat, just how naughty has Wei Shiaho been, and is all this a smokescreen to mask official ineptitude?
We get stuck into some great listener questions – what’s the point of the China cup, when will we get to see naturalized players make their club debuts, and is a domestic manager the solution? We wrap up with a preview of some big fixtures in the CSL this weekend – does another slip-up await Cannavaro in Dalian, how will Shenhua manage with their u23 contingent crocked on national team duty, and what’s the mood in the capital ahead of the Beijing derby?
Host Steve Crooks is joined by Chinese football experts Cameron Wilson in Shanghai and Brandon Chemers in Beijing for this week’s episode.
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Steve hosts the Chinese Football Podcast, having joined the WEF team as correspondent for Shanghai Shenhua, the side he has followed since moving to Shanghai in 2010. Exiled from the Victorian town-centre idyll of Feethams along with his childhood football team, Steve spent many an (un)happy year on Hongkou's North Terrace along with the Shenhua Element Crew and Blue Devils before relocating to Sydney from where he continues to follow the Chinese game from afar.
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