Chinese President Xi Jinping’s dream of making China a football superpower "is turning into a nightmare amid a public backlash over defeats that left the national team’s 2018 World Cup hopes in tatters," according to Clover & Cheung of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The straight losses -- "to war-torn Syria and fellow football minnows Uzbekistan -- unleashed an outpouring of anger among fans and in the press." Even the Global Times, a "tabloid bastion of chest-thumping Chinese nationalism," exhorted the country to abandon the beautiful game and "go play ping pong instead." Despite its "prowess in Olympic sports," China’s football team has "been a failure on the world stage." Since Xi became president in '12, Chinese businessmen "have rushed to back his vision, taking stakes in European clubs" such as Man City and Atlético Madrid and buying up top players. But while the money "raised interest and expectations, this has yet to be reflected in an improvement by Chinese players." Mark Dreyer, a former Sky Sports reporter who runs the China Sports Insider blog, said that "the massive investment in football and, in particular, President Xi’s personal involvement, has raised expectations to wholly unrealistic levels" (FT, 10/14).
