While the East Asia country has lined up friendly matches against Singapore and Malaysia in preparation for their AFC 2015 Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia next month, the Lions are looking to bounce back from their recent defeat in the same qualifiers against Oman as part of their rebuilding process under new coach Bernd Stange.
The Chinese come into this tie fresh off their impressive performances in the EAFF East Asian Cup in South Korea in July, where they finished in second place behind winners Japan. They went through the whole tournament undefeated as they held traditional Asian powerhouses Japan (3-3) and South Korea (0-0), while beating giants Australia (4-3).
Caretaker coach Fu Bo, who is temporarily taking over the China national team after the sacking of Jose Antonio Camacho in June, has rung in the changes with the side. He has rested Guangzhou Evergrande’s talismanic striker Lin Gao and PSV Eindhoven defender Sun Xiang due to their club commitments in the Asian Champions League, while giving national Under-20 captain Jin Jingdao his first senior team call-up. Fu has also recalled Zheng Zheng, Feng Xiaoting and Zhao Xuri after dropping them for the recent EAFF Asian Cup in the wake of the 5-1 humiliation against Thailand in June.
The Lions can draw inspiration from Thailand’s recent 5-1 mauling of China, but there is no denying there is a gulf in class between the two teams. China are ranked 95th in the Fifa standings, 60 places above Singapore's 155th. Furthermore, China have convincingly beaten them 2-1 at Kunming Tuodong and 4-0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium in the last two encounters during the World Cup qualification match in 2011.
Getting a result might not be the main objective then, but anything less than an encouraging performance from Singapore would raise questions against Stange’s methods and cast further doubts on his managerial ability.
