China head coach Li's social media flooded with comments demanding his resignation

A statement that Chinese men's team head coach Li Tie released on social media on Friday after his side's draw with Oman in a FIFA World Cup qualifier was greeted with comments calling for his ouster.

China was held by Oman to a 1-1 tie, where Li's ability was heavily questioned by Chinese media and fans for his decision to take off Luo Guofu in the 67th minute, a naturalized player who was arguably the best player of the Chinese side for that game.

"Football is something so unpredictable, but I still love it," he wrote on his Weibo account after the game.

"Face your life with smile and to work hard means the highest respect for yourself," he ended.

His words met with a flood of comments demanding him to step down.

"Resign, and don't mess around any more," one comment said.

"Please don't release this kind of self-moving rhetoric, I feel disgusted," another comment said.

After the 1-1 draw with Oman, the Chinese side remains in fifth place in the six-team standings of Group B with four points from five games, nine points behind leader Saudi Arabia.

The top two finishers of each of the two groups of Asia's preliminaries will earn an automatic berth for the 2022 World Cup finals, while the third-placed teams enter a series of playoffs.