Chinese national men's soccer coach Zhu Guanghu came under renewed pressure yesterday after his team lost to Thailand for the first time in 14 years in a friendly tune-up for the Asian Cup.

"There is only one conclusion from the match: It would be extremely inappropriate for Zhu Guanghu to remain in his position," said a commentary in the Beijing Morning Post.

Zhu Guanghu.

Thailand edged the visitors 1-0 in Bangkok on a 40th-minute goal from striker Pipat Thonkanya.

It was Thailand's first victory against China since the 1993 Emperor's Cup in Thailand, according to state media.

Chinese newspapers criticised the coach's reliance on an aerial long-ball attack, noting that the Thai players took advantage of the spread-open field to use short, sharp passes to penetrate¹ China's defence.

"Ultimately, China's defence was basically paralysed," The First newspaper said.

"If Thailand is in the top three teams in Asia, as has been said, then China is at the bottom."

Zhu himself ripped into his players after the game.

"All of you told me there was no problem with your fitness. But in fact, you couldn't run and had no attacking power. Is this how you perform?" he was quoted by the Beijing Morning Post as telling his players.

But the invective² directed at Zhu by soccer fans on major websites was even more fierce.

"Zhu Guanghu, if you are a real man, please resign. For the country and for soccer fans," said one post on the popular portal sina.com.

Another sina.com post used the Chinese character for "pig", which sounds like Zhu's family name, in referring to the embattled coach.

"We strongly demand that the national coach leave! Go back home and raise some pigs!" it said.

Zhu took over the national team in March 2005 after their failure to qualify for last year's World Cup under his predecessor³ Arie Haan. However, a string of disappointing performances has kept him under the gun since.

Similar problems in the country's women's team led to the March replacement⁴ of coach Ma Liangxing with former Swedish national coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors.

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