The former Bundesliga Stutgart and Dutch powerhouse Feyenoord's boss may not have been fully aware of the hugeness of his new task, as he admitted, "I knew little about China's football before I came here." But why is he still confident after being with the team for half a year?
"Chinese players are skillful with the ball and strong and speedy as well. Besides, their courage against Brazil surprised me."said Haan.
In his first match with the team since he took up the job, his players held a full-star world champion team, Brazil, to a scoreless 0-0 on February 12, 2003. The same team had defeated them with a 4-0 mercilessvictory during last year's World Cup. Four days later, his new China team marked their first victory over Estonia with a 1-0 win.