July 21, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 05, 1428

BEIJING, July 20: Former French striker Jean-Pierre Papin has emerged as a top candidate to coach China's national football side after the team's disastrous first-round exit from the Asian Cup, press reports said on Friday.

Papin will arrive in Beijing this month for talks with the China Football Association, which is expected to fire coach Zhu Guanghu after the team's appalling result in Kuala Lumpur, the leading Titan Sports Weekly said.

“I'm very interested in this position but I don't think I'm the only one on the list,” the newspaper quoted Papin as saying.

“I don't know a lot about the Chinese team... but I do know that this nation has huge potential.” Papin quit as coach of French club Strasbourg earlier this year after helping the side win promotion to the league's first division.

Meanwhile Zhu has refused to resign following China's 3-0 loss to Uzbekistan on Wednesday -- its first failure to reach the second round of an Asian Cup in 27 years.

“I will not leave football,” said Zhu, much to the anger of the local media, which called for a complete overhaul of the country's football system, starting with his sacking.

“A giant in speech, but a dwarf in action' that is how to describe Zhu Guanghu,” said an editorial in the Beijing Times, which ripped him for not honouring a pledge to step down if the team missed the Asian Cup semi-finals.—AFP