Wouldn’t normally have much to say about soccer, let alone the Chinese women’s national team, but check this out –

Elizabeth Loisel was hired to coach the team at the beginning of last November. Now, the team is saying that if the team doesn’t win the upcoming East Asian Cup, she will be fired — just three months after being hired.

But there’s more to the story. Loisel has had problems with team officials from the beginning — but most recently and prominently over a situation the French media have dubbed “fonduegate.”

Seems Loisel forbade the team to consume a hot pot dinner arranged by team officials (attended by government officials) because the meal didn’t comply with the dietary standards she established upon taking over the team.

Team officials ordered the players to attend anyway, telling Loisel to butt-out of “off-the-pitch” affairs.

A few days later Loisel was fined by the team for tardiness.

The head coach of China’s women football team, Elizabeth Loisel, was fined for tardiness, website sina.com reports. The punishment was announced by the team’s director Zhang Jianqiang on Sunday after the coach missed the departure for a team’s training session, leaving players sitting on the bus for more than ten minutes.

That’s right folks. Ten minutes. Anyone think Loisel is long for this world? I’d say the Chinese media doesn’t. From the same article:

It’s also an overdue penalty for the French who has been late for more than 20 times since she took the helm of the team last October.