Goal is to break into top 100, says Chinese Taipei coach

The success rate of Chinese Taipei football team has gone up to 86 per cent after Gary White has joined it as its coach. His philosophy to coaching is to engage and connect with the players.

On Chinese Taipei missing out on AFC Asian Cup qualification, Gary White says that it was in a tough group and, moreover, lost too many home matches. (File Photo)

The success rate of Chinese Taipei football team has gone up to 86 per cent after Gary White has joined it as its coach. His philosophy to coaching is to engage and connect with the players.

“My philosophy to create a winning environment is simple – you need to capture the player’s minds and hearts, and then the legs will follow. I want all the players that we coach to love to play and to play with S.O.U.L, it’s an acronym that captures the values and characteristics of all who are involved in the teams that I coach. Sacrifice, Ownership, Unity, & Legacy are required by all before we step on the grass to work.”

“Obviously in modern-day elite football, strategy, tactics, systems, styles, analysis, etc, are required. However, in my opinion, it’s essential to firstly engage and connect with your players, if you expect them to follow you and believe in your team vision,” White told aiff.com.

On Chinese Taipei missing out on AFC Asian Cup qualification, White says that it was in a tough group and, moreover, lost too many home matches.

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“We took over the team midway into the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. In hindsight, there will always be a feeling or rather a lament that we would have qualified if we were leading the team from the beginning.”

“First off, we had a very difficult group, not just on paper, but also in terms of travel. The momentum in which we are playing makes me believe that we could have topped the group. Yet, we lost too many home games prior to us taking over and the reality is you can’t do that if you expect to qualify. That has been remedied now as we are unbeaten at home from the five games we have played since taking over the national team,” he said.

In two years time, White wants his team breaking into the top 100 in FIFA rankings. “We are going from strength to strength. We have climbed significantly in the FIFA rankings – from around the 160’s to a historic 121 since we took over in September 2017 and we are constantly looking forward. Our goals include breaking into the FIFA top 100, qualifying for a major tournament and creating more professional football markets in Asia, in order to place more of our immensely talented players.”