Chinese soccer fans bid farewell and offered sympathy to China's departing national team boss, Marcello Lippi as he left the country on early Wednesday morning after stepping down from his post as planned after the team swallowed more frustrating losses at the Asian Cup last week.
In a rather low-profile exit, the Italian soccer legend boarded a flight bound for Italy from Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province after turning down all media interview requests and send-off ceremonies offered by soccer fans associations.
Under Lippi's guidance since October 2016, China's national team won only 10 of 30 games, including the team's crushing 0:3 defeat to Iran at the 2019 Asia Cup's quarter-final a week ago.
Despite the poor showing in the United Arab Emirates, Chinese fans offered rare sympathy to the Italian soccer legend, whose annual salary in China was 20 million euros ($22 million), reportedly making him one of the world's highest-paid coaches.
Hashtag #LippileftChina has gathered nearly 36 million views and some 5,000 comments as of press time on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform, with most fans saying "Lippi is not to blame for the weak Chinese soccer," and "Lippi proves even the world's top-notch coach cannot handle the Chinese men's soccer team."
"No matter how much you pay the world's best cook to work in a toilet, you will never get a proper meal in the end. Chinese soccer problems cannot simply be resolved with big money or hiring a world-class coach," wrote a Net user.
Some called Lippi's high pay "compensation for mental suffer," which was just enough to comfort the humiliating and torturous feelings he experienced while coaching China's team.
Soccer fans agree that finding Lippi's replacement is a tricky proposition with many factors to consider. "Those who are familiar with most advanced soccer tactics do not understand China well, those who understand China well are less great at coaching," a Beijing-based soccer observer surnamed Lu, told the Global Times.
There are high-profile coaches available including Zinedine Zidane and Jose Mourinho, but none of them are likely to have a better understanding of Chinese soccer than Lippi, Lu said.
I don't think anyone can save the national men's team, not domestic coaches nor foreign world cup champion coaches, a Weibo user wrote.
