Going into the East Asian Cup, Chinese media was abuzz with the inevitability of the demise of Elisabeth Loisel, the French coach brought in last fall to replace her Swedish predecessor as head coach of the women’s national soccer (football) team. In the weeks leading up to the cup in Chongqing, she’d been fined by the club for tardiness, and offended officials by forbidding players from attending a hot pot dinner they were hosting. Win the tournament, the conventional wisdom was, and she just might keep her job. Well, China didn’t win. They looked in good form beating South Korea and then went on to tie North Korea. But then they lost 3-0 to Japan.
In the two days after the loss, no word is out on her status and Loisel spoke to the media about her hopes for the Olympics in August. Have the problems been sorted out, or are team officials just waiting to see how the team fares in the upcoming Algarve Cup in Portugal?
Here is the Agence France-Presse story of Loisel’s reaction to the East Asian Cup loss.
Tags: football, Loisel, soccer, women