China have not renewed coach Vladimir Petrovic's contract
after their failure in 2010 FIFA World CupT qualifying, the Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) said on Friday.
"Elimination from the World Cup left me very sad but I have had many
(positive) emotions which I appreciate," the Serb was quoted as saying
on the AFC's website. "The time I have had here was too short to
change anything and maybe I could have done better if I had enough time."
China, who reached the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals, were dumped out at
the third round stage one game early after securing just three points
and scoring only two goals in their first five matches.
Petrovic accepted responsibility for the failure, but angry fans pinned
the blame on national soccer chiefs, chanting "Sack! Sack! Sack!"
after their 2-1 defeat by Iraq on 14 June.
Their 1-0 win away to Australia in a dead rubber on 26 June was not enough
to save Petrovic, who was China's coach of the year when he steered Dalian
Shide to the league and cup double in 2005.
An official from China's soccer federation told Reuters no announcement
had been made but confirmed that Petrovic's contract had expired on Thursday.
The Serb did not attend Thursday's Asian Cup qualifying in Doha.
China, twice runners-up in the Asian Cup, were drawn in Group D with Vietnam,
Syria and Lebanon in the qualifiers for the 2011 competition.
