Petrovic endshis reign as China coach

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-5  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA has not renewed coach Vladimir Petrovic's contract after its failure in 2010 World Cup qualifying, the Asian Football Confederation said yesterday.

"Elimination from the World Cup left me very sad but I have had many (positive) emotions which I appreciate," the Serb was quoted as saying on the AFC's Website. "The time I have had here was too short to change anything and maybe I could have done better if I had enough time."

China, which reached the 2002 World Cup finals, was out at the third round stage one game early after securing just three points and scoring only two goals in its first five matches.

Petrovic accepted responsibility for the failure, but angry fans pinned the blame on national soccer chiefs, chanting "sack! sack! sack!" after its 1-2 defeat by Iraq on June 14.

Its 1-0 win away to Australia in a dead rubber on June 26 was not enough to save Petrovic, who was China's coach of the year when he steered Dalian Shide to the league and cup double in 2005.

An official from China's soccer federation said no announcement had been made but confirmed that Petrovic's contract had expired on Thursday. China was drawn in 2011 Asian Cup draw with Vietnam, Syria and Lebanon.