Chinese players will work flat out to beat Syria in the forthcoming Asian Cup qualifier, claimed the caretaker coach of Chinese national team Yin Tiesheng.

The players had learned a lot from their West Asia tour, where they lost two warm-up games and won one, and would regain confidence in preparation for their match against Syria, said Yin.

"Generally speaking, my team made some progress with each friendly, and in the final one we beat Jordan, all this will buoy up the team's confidence," he said.

"I am satisfied with my players' fighting spirit, and in these friendlies, whatever the score, they never gave up and fought on to the last minute," said the 52-year-old Yin.

China are to play away against Syria on January 14, a match they have to win in order to boost the morale of Chinese soccer, according to Yin.

"This will be the first competitive match for the whole Chinese soccer, and it is very important for us to get off to a good start of a new year. We will put in one hundred percent efforts for it," he said.

After the Chinese team returned to Shanghai for a two-week training camp, Yin recruited into his team two more defenders in an apparent attempt to reinforce the defense.

The veteran defender Li Weifeng was rebuffed as being considered to be unfit physically.

"I was very worried about his fitness, and he did not play in our league after being banned for eight games," Yin said.

Li, arguably the best central defender in China, was left in limbo after his club Wuhan Guanggu pulled out of the Chinese Super League and no other clubs have showed any interest to sign him.

"Li Weifeng is too big a name for our club," quipped an inside source of Shandong Luneng, the Chinese top flight champions.

"To be honest, he is a good defender, but he had unsettled every club he played with," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2008)