Chinese national soccer team has canceled their trip to the United States for a four-nation tournament in late January, an official of the Chinese Football Association announced on Tuesday.

The tournament, which features Mexico, Saudi Arabia, China and the United States, was originally slated for next February but was rescheduled on January 23, 26 and 29 because Saudi Arabia will play a World Cup qualifier, team manager Zhu Yuanhe said.

"The host has not done enough to communicate with the playing teams and some of the them have not confirmed their participation. So we have to cancel the trip to the United States," Zhu said.

China, who have been eliminated from the qualifying campaign of the 2006 World Cup, will have no major competitions before the 2008 Asian Cup.

(Xxinhua News Agency December 29, 2004)