Chinese Steel Roses aspire for opening win at Olympics
5/8/2008 16:59
If the Chinese women's soccer team is going to meet expectations and keep
home fans happy, it needs to beat Sweden in its opening match at the Olympics on
Aug. 6.
The two sides are in Group E with Argentina and Canada. With the aim
of winning an Olympic medal at home, the Chinese Steel Roses hoped they could
finish first in the group to avoid mighty Germany or Brazil from Group F in
quarterfinals.
"Sweden has had a professional women's league for several
years and it's of a high standard," China's coach Shang Rihua said.
"Sweden
has fast attack and aggressive defense," Shang told Xinhua. "How to better
control the ball is very important for us."
China and Sweden have previously
met four times at the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Olympics, with the Asians
winning twice and the Scandinavians once, with one draw.
China has
traditionally been a women's soccer power but has slid in the FIFA world
rankings to No. 14, lagging far behind of Sweden's No. 3.
However, the
statistics never tell the full story in football, and the Chinese are determined
to put on a good show before home fans at the Olympics.
"Back in the 1990s we
were among the best in the world, but the trend has been downwards in recent
years. We'll do everything possible to give the best possible account of
ourselves this time," coach Shang said.
In March, China's former coach
Frenchwoman Elisabeth Loisel was replaced by the 64-year-old Shang, who is known
as godfather of women's soccer in China and brought the national team into the
quarterfinals of inaugural FIFA Women World Cup 17 years ago.
Since Shang
took charge, some new faces have been added into his squad, but the core of the
team remains experienced: captain Li Jie shores up the defence, Bi Yan takes
care of the creative job in the midfield, and Han Duan spearheads the
attack.
However, star forward Ma Xiaoxu will miss the Olympics as she injured
her left knee in a warm-up against the United States, casting shadows on the
team's prospect.
On the Sweden side, it is obviously physically stronger than
the Chinese and may count on this advantage by launching fast attacks and
playing aggressively on defense.
"There's going to be a big crowd rooting for
China, but we're a very experienced team and mentally prepared," said Sweden
coach Thomas Dennerby. "We have a good defense and our attacking play is getting
better and better."
Most of Swedish players have taken part in the FIFA World
Cup last year when it failed to reach quarterfinals despite beating Asian giant
DPRK 2-1 in last group match.
The team has several players with 100
appearances including top striker Victoria Svensson, but the veteran player,
once unstoppable, seems to be over the hill. Coach Dennerby has been opting for
a youth policy in recent friendly games.
Standing out from the young talents
is striker Lotta Schelin, who was Swedish Player of the Year for 2006 and is
often compared to Swedish men's national team's counterpart Zlatan Ibrahimovic
in terms of goal sense, guile and creativity.
"Schelin, with fast pace and
excellent technique, poses great threat to China," Shang told Xinhua.
Sweden
lost 1-0 to reigning Olympic champion the Unites States in a tune-up match in
July. However, the team looked to be in a good form, creating more scoring
chances in the game than the opponents.
"Our goal is a medal. We are not in
Tianjin , North China just to play in the group, " Svensson said.
Xinhua
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