Newly appointed China men's national football team head coach Shao Jiayi is making no secret of his World Cup ambition, as he leads his first training camp with the team in Zhaoqing City, south China's Guangdong Province.
The 45-year-old, who took over the national team in November 2025 after coaching Qingdao West Coast, said he favored a mix of youth and experience going forward.
"Currently, many young players are demonstrating great potential, but that doesn't mean I will necessarily eliminate the older players. It's not like that. They need to 'speak with their feet'; they need to tell me with their performance that they are ready and capable of representing the Chinese national team," he said.
Shao said both he and the team should be prepared to approach the goal of qualifying for the 2030 World Cup with patience.
"This is everyone's dream, and it is also everyone's goal. However, how we achieve it is very important. We must work humbly and diligently. We must take one step at a time, steadily solidifying our foundation, solidifying the foundation of the national team. Let us move from this first step to the second step, and then progress step by step. As a coach, I certainly have this patience. I hope to see this in the near future," he said.
Born in 1980, Shao represented China at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan and played for several seasons in the German Bundesliga. After retiring, he served as an assistant coach of the national team and worked with various Chinese national youth teams as team leader and assistant coach.
Shao took charge of Chinese Super League (CSL) side Qingdao West Coast in July 2024.The team currently sits ninth in this season's CSL with nine wins, ten draws and ten losses.
Head coach says he has patience to lead Chinese team toward World Cup
U.S. stocks finished slightly higher on Monday, staging a late-session recovery as investors navigated a volatile landscape marked by a criminal probe into the Federal Reserve leadership.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86.13 points, or 0.17 percent, to 49,590.2. The S&P 500 added 10.99 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,977.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 62.56 points, or 0.26 percent, to 23,733.9. Despite the positive close, the market experienced significant intraday turbulence, with the Dow dropping nearly 500 points at its session lows.
Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in positive territory. Consumer staples and industrials led the gainers, rising 1.42 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively. Financials and energy were the primary laggards, declining 0.8 percent and 0.66 percent.
Market sentiment was initially shaken by an announcement on Sunday from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who confirmed that federal prosecutors are investigating him over the Fed's multi-billion-dollar project to renovate its headquarters. Powell characterized the probe as an attempt by the Trump administration to compromise the Fed's independence.
Further weighing on the financial sector was a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent for one year, which triggered a sell-off in banking stocks amid concerns over restricted lending and reduced profitability. Capital One shares plummeted 6.42 percent, while Citigroup, JPMorgan and Bank of America also recorded losses.
In contrast, retail giant Walmart led the Dow's advance, climbing 3 percent following news of its upcoming inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 index. The company also announced a strategic partnership with Google's Gemini AI to enhance the digital shopping experience.
Investors are awaiting Tuesday's release of the U.S. consumer price index for December 2025. Following last week's cooling labor market data, market participants increasingly expect the Fed to maintain interest rates at their current levels during the upcoming January meeting.
U.S. stocks close higher amid criminal probe into Fed chair Powell
