The underlying scourge is the top-down football system in China, according to Zhang Wei, a Titan magazine reporter who has been following the Chinese team for years.

"I think Elizabeth is a competent coach, but it is impossible for her to revive the Chinese women's football. We're building a castle in the air, how could she succeed given this background?" he said.

There are only about 4,000 girls from a population of 1.3 billion playing football in China, and the grassroots are all but a mess.

"Indeed we are losing the girls playing football, the number is dwindling," lamented Beijing club coach Yu Kuilian.

"For the girls to play football, it is deemed as anathema to our traditional value. Football has never been treated as a pastime for the girls,

"And our society is now being gripped by a make-money-quick ethos, the girls choose other profession instead of football. We are now facing a talent dearth in women's football," he said.

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