Chinese Olympic team coach Jia Xiuquan has expressed his misgivings about local soccer players losing character due to misguided training.

Jia, an assistant coach of the Chinese Olympic team, was upset to point out Chinese soccer is suffering from the dwindling of players with special quality.

"We need this kind of players, but now it becomes increasingly hard to spot them,” the former Chinese international said.

"If a player is good at every aspect, it usually means he is outstanding at no aspect. If a team is made up by those players with no characters, there is little scope for improvement for them no matter how hard they would be trained.

"Only after you are equipped with special players in every position can you possibly build up a team with character and strength," he said.

The underlying cause for this Chinese soccer malaise is the misleading training guidance at the grassroots, according to Jia.

"If a kid is found to be good at something, for example, if the header is his forte, he should be trained to strengthen this specialty. With that, when he grows up, he could use it to its advantage," he said.

"But if the coach fails to detect the kid's talents and train him accordingly, his talents will be ruined," he said.

One thing to make Jia happy is he found the Chinese players are becoming "streetwise" thanks to more exposure to international games.

"Until now I never blamed my players brainless, indeed nearly all of them are intelligent. They are very creative when playing,” he said.

"In the past we used to play one or two international games, every time it's like a festival for us. And now the players would play many matches with foreign teams, they have become more resourceful and open-minded," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2007)