From virtual obscurity to stardom, soccer manager Alain Perrin has earned a place in the hearts of Chinese fans with his coaching expertise and a positive mindset to embrace a different culture.

When Perrin was appointed head coach of the Chinese national team last February, the 58-year-old was mostly unknown even to the most sophisticated fans in China, where the game's image has been severely tarnished by disgraceful international performances and corruption scandals.

After less than a year, the Frenchman has become a household name as he helped give fans renewed hope with an impressive campaign in the 2015 Asian Cup.

Under Perrin's guidance, China, which entered the tournament as an underdog, surprisingly won three group matches in a row and only lost to host Australia, 2-0 in the quarterfinals, delivering its best performance at the continental showpiece since 2004.

The improved outcome rekindled the enthusiasm of long-suffering Chinese fans, who attributed the breakthrough largely to Perrin's work of building a competitive and cohesive young squad in a short period of time.

"We haven't had the chance to celebrate our national team on the world stage for years due to its lackluster performance in the past decade," said Wang Wen, president of Beijing Football Fan Club.

"Thanks to Perrin, we finally have a team to cheer for and to be proud of after being disappointed for so long."

Apart from his practical yet aggressive tactics, Perrin's approachable personality as well as his focus on building team chemistry worked well to unite the squad into one.

"He's really a good coach who pays a lot of attention to details and stays close with us all the time," said Zhang Chengdong, the right back in Perrin's starting lineup.

"He's highly demanding in training but easy-going off the pitch. He sometimes even cracks jokes with us, which easily closes the emotional distance."

Though unknown in China when arrived, Perrin has a long-standing reputation in France.

His coaching career started to shine in the 1990s by driving French fourth-division club Troyes AC to top-flight Ligue 1 after three promotions in six seasons and qualification for the UEFA Cup in 2002.

The success earned him an offer as manager of Olympique de Marseille from 2002 to 2004. After that, Perrin held a number of positions around Europe including at Marseille, Portsmouth, Sochaux and Olympique Lyonnais.

In 2007, he won the French Cup with Sochaux over Marseille before leading Lyon to a seventh consecutive Ligue 1 title and managed to win the French Cup in 2008.

Following short stints with three west Asian clubs and the Qatar Olympic squad, Perrin was reached by the Chinese Football Association, which was desperately looking for a replacement for Spanish coach Jose Antonio Camacho in late 2013.

Camacho was fired from the national post after a string of defeats that included a humiliating 5-1 loss to Thailand in June 2013. Trying to scout as much talent as he could, Perrin visited five cities watching seven domestic league matches in 10 days soon after assuming his post in February, 2014.

The hard-working Frenchman even asked for an office at CFA headquarters in Beijing to work with his own assistants and the Chinese crew eight hours a day, as office workers do, to get familiar with the Chinese way of working while keeping smooth communication with CFA officials.

Perrin's work ethic made a good impression on the CFA top leadership, highlighted by the warm welcome he received from CFA vice-presidents Zhang Jian and Lin Xiaohua when the team returned from Australia on Jan 24.

"The chemistry within the team is working well and the morale of the young players is high. Perrin's done a good job so far," said Wei Jixiang, another vice-president of CFA.

Meanwhile, Perrin's interests in and initiatives to blend in with the Chinese culture have helped him adapt to life in China better than his predecessor did.

According to his interpreter Zhao Xudong, Perrin enjoys eating Chinese food, especially noodles with soybean pasta, at the office canteen together with Chinese colleagues, and prefers living in ordinary hotels near the office rather than in luxury suites.

"He's really fond of Chinese culture. He expects to learn more on Confucianism and Sun Zi's Art of War," said Zhao.

Finishing his first phase of work for the Asian Cup, Perrin has already begun to envision the Asian qualifying tournament for 2018 Russia World Cup in Russia that will kick off in June.

Despite the progress achieved at the Asian Cup, Perrin said there a lot remains to be done to get the squad ready for the ultimate goal of returning the World Cup final.

"It is pleasant to be working together with the Chinese players. They are disciplined and they listen. But when I wanted them to make changes in personalities it was not easy," said Perrin, who is working on preparations for the preliminaries, was quoted in a FIFA.com interview as saying."I want them to be aggressive. They are polite lads but you can't be polite on the pitch. I want them to take responsibility and sharpen their appetite for winning. There is still much work to do in this regard."

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/31/2015 page6)