The Chinese football team left on Wednesday for a series of warm-up matches in the United States, part of its preparation for the Asian Cup qualifying competition starting in July.

The team will play against the US national team on Saturday, and then take on both Los Angeles Galaxy and Colorado Rapids from the US Soccer Major League on June 5 and 10 respectively.

International footballers, including Shao Jiayi from German team Cottbus and Li Tie of English Premier League side Sheffield United, are listed in the roster. However captain Zheng Zhi is not to take part in the training tour.

Zheng, who just concluded a "tour of duty" with the now demoted premiership side Charlton, will however join Chinese champions Shandong Luneng to compete in the upcoming A3 Tournament, a top football event featuring champion teams from China, Japan and South Korea.

Under the helm of Zhu Guanghu, the Chinese team lost to Thailand 1-0 on May 16, the first defeat China has conceded to the South-East Asian team in nearly two decades. The defeat got Zhu into hot water, and casts a dark cloud over the team's prospects at the Asian Cup.

(CRIENGLISH.com May 31, 2007)