With the 2008 Olympic men's soccer tournament to kick off in a fortnight, the Asian teams of host China, South Korea, Japan and Australia eye on shining performance in Beijing.
"Beijing is the host city of the Olympic Games. All of us hope we can meet our rivals there. My teammates and I will not give up trying," said Chinese footballer Zheng Zhi, who has become a star player in the English club Charlton Athletic.
More than one billion people will be expecting China to go further, however, the road for the hosts' to advance seemed quite rugged from the very beginning as the Chinese Football Association (CFA) sacked Serbia's Ratomir Dujkovic as coach of its Olympic team just three weeks before the Games.
CFA vice chairman Xie Yalong explained that discontent among players over Dujkovic's training methods and tactics was among the reasons which also included health problems.
Dissatisfaction with Dujkovic has been mounting since last month China's national squad, also coached by the Serb, suffered a humiliating beating by Iraq and then ousted of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
Dujkovic said before he was sacked that he was aiming for a top four finish, but Zheng said the initial goal was simply to reach the knockout stage.
"In the Sydney Games qualifiers in 1999, I, then 19, tried my best amid cheers from countless fans, but failed to live up to their expectation. The Olympic dream was broken," Zheng said to his fans in a video clip aired frequently on local TV.
"These years I have grown up a lot. Now I am anticipating the Beijing Games to make up for the supporters. We are going to turn a new page on the history of the Chinese soccer."
No Asian team so far has won the soccer gold medal since the sport was included in the Olympics 100 years ago. However, regional powers have had some success over the years, such as Japan taking the bronze in 1968 in Mexico City, when they beat the host 2-0 in the play-off match.
Other Asian teams have finished in fourth place -- India in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia in 1992 in Barcelona (they were still Oceanian rather than Asian then), and Iraq four years ago in Athens.