With no job in sight, China's former head coach Bora Milutinovic
left Beijing for Mexico on Sunday.
Milutinovic, who resigned after China's debacle in the World Cup
finals, said he did not think too much about his future. "I will go
back to Mexico City to spend some time with my family, and then I
will ponder over my future," he said.
Yan Shiduo, vice president of China's Football Association, praised
Milutinovic for the contribution the Serb made to China's soccer.
"Mr. Milutinovic completed the main job we asked him to do and
steered China into the World Cup finals for the first time. We'll
never forget what he did for China's soccer," he said.
Debutant China performed badly in the World Cup finals, losing all
their three group matches with scoring no goals. This left
Milutinovic, who received no offer until now, an unpleasant
memory.
He
said: "Generally speaking, I enjoyed myself very much in China. But
after the World Cup I was in a rather bad mood."
Bora Milutinovic, known as "The Miracle Worker" for having guided
Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States and Nigeria into the second
round of past World Cup finals, steered the Chinese team to a
convincing run of 12 victories, one draw and one defeat throughout
the Asian qualifiers. The historic breakthrough has not only sent
the soccer-mad country into ecstasy once again three months after
China was awarded the right to stage its first Olympic Games in
2008 in July, but led to nationwide worship of Milutinovic who
helped China realize its long-awaited dream.
(Xinhua News
Agency July 29, 2002)