We need to look for a victory, says Marcello Lippi

Doha: The Chinese football clubs may have spent heavily on famous coaches and players, but they continue to lag behind continental powerhouses Japan, Iran and South Korea.

China can finish third in Group A if they defeat Qatar in the 2018 World Cup qualifier at the Khalifa International Stadium on Tuesday, and also hope other results go their way to earn a play-off for qualification.

Coach Marcello Lippi wanted his side to forget about anything and focus on winning.

“We’ve reached the last game of the decisive stage and have a chance to qualify. We need to concentrate on ourselves and look for a victory,” the Italian said at a Press conference here on Monday.

China’s only previous appearance was at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, with Bora Milutinovic’s side losing all three of their group games against Costa Rica, Brazil and Turkey.

“We weren’t lucky in some games, but the chance is still there. We’ll fight for a win tomorrow,” the 69-year-old added.

However, the World Cup-winning coach rued that China don’t have a quality striker.

“We’ve no forward or centre forwards. I’ve had to use players from other positions to be a centre forward,” said Lippi.

While the Chinese clubs has spent hugely on top foreign strikers including Oscar, Carlos Tevez and Hulk, there has been a dearth of home-grown forwards.

Only Shanghai SIPG’s Wu Lei has scored more than 10 league goals this season, and Lippi experimented with the inexperienced Zhang Yuning, who recently joined Werder Bremen on loan from West Bromwich Albion.