Good things never come easy and Chinese playmaker Zheng Zhi's return to the national team is a good example of that.

Due to his commitment to English Championship club Charlton Athletic, Zheng, known as ZZ to fans, has not appeared in a single international match since the Asian Cup in July.

Zheng finally joined the team after a long flight from London to Dubai, home base of the tough Iraqi side China will play against for the nation's first World Cup Asian Zone qualifier tomorrow.

China defender Sun Xiang trains with his teammates as the national team gears up for its World Cup Asian qualifier against Iraq in Dubai tomorrow. China only qualified once for the World Cup, when it lost group matches without scoring a goal in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. [CFP] China's coach Vladimir Petrovic, who took over in September after Zhu Guanghu was sacked following China's elimination from the Asian Cup, has been hoping Charlton would release Zheng for some of the team's international warm-ups so the team could get to known to each other better.

But Charlton manager Alan Pardew rejected Petrovic's request due to Zheng's pivotal role in his club's quest to return to the English Premiership.

Now Chinese fans, many of whom will have their eyes on the team's first fixture instead of China's Lunar New Year festivities, pin their hopes on Zheng, hoping he'll duplicate his outstanding performance at Charlton and lead the team to a win or a draw against Iraq.

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