Camacho adapting to new life as China coach

China Daily, August 16, 2011

The new coach of the Chinese football team, Jose Antonio Camacho spoke this Monday about his new role.

Camacho, who has coached Benfica, Espanyol, Osasuna, Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, will make his debut as China coach against Singapore on September 2 and his aim is to qualify China for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

"I will live in Beijing for 200 days a year and will only travel to Spain between November and February, which is when the league stops in China. I am in a hotel at the moment, but I am looking for a house," Camacho said in Monday's edition of Diario AS.

The coach said he was stunned by the reception he had been given by the Chinese.

"It has been incredible. The Chinese are organized, hard working and it will be very good to be able to work with them. They are a world power in everything and they soon will be in football," said Camacho, who explained the lack of Chinese football success until the present.

"There are only 30,000 football licences, when there are 1,300 million Chinese. Japan for example is much smaller, but has many more licenses. The Chinese want to resolve that problem and that is why it is important play the World Cup to draw the attention of young people."

"I am certain that among those 1,300 million people there have to be some good footballers and we will find them and we will teach them all they are able to learn, which will be a lot, because they are people who are willing to learn," said Camacho, who saw one big advantage of working in China.

"Here we have more time to work with the national team than in Spain, we will have to weeks to prepare for the game. That is long enough for us to prepare for the first game and to get to know the players. I am going to have help from local coaches and they will help me guide the first sessions," he continued.

Finally Camacho spoke about what has captured his attention in his first days in China.

"Bicycles," he said. "I expected to see a lot and I have seen very few. I have seen a lot of cars. China is a big country and it is advancing at incredible speed. You see it in everything, the buildings, in shops and in how people dress. They are a world power for a reason," he concluded.