Aug. 08-24 2008The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
China whitewash Thailand 4-0 in four-nation women's soccer tournament
Updated：2007-07-02
From：Xinhuanet
QINHUANGDAO, East China, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Thanks to a double from star
striker Han Duan, China breezed past Thailand 4-0 in their opener at the
four-nation International Women's Soccer Invitational Tournament 2007 here on
Sunday.
The hosts proved themselves too strong for the Thais despite missing their
big name, teenage sensation Ma Xiaoxu, in the attacking lineup. Ma has yet been
back home from Swedish women's soccer league.
China opened the scoring in the 42nd minute with a super long drive from Bi
Yan. The Dalian Shide's established midfielder shot from 25 meters away on a
precise backward pass from teenage forward Guo Yue outside the penalty box.
China's Swedish head coach Lyfors Domanski made her first change as early as
the 41st minute, substituting veteran midfielder Qu Feifei with the 17-year-old
Xie Caixia, just before Bi scored for the hosts.
Veteran striker Han Duan made it 2-0 just three minutes into the second half,
netting an unhurried score inside the rivals' box.
Another three minutes later, Li Jie scored the third for China with a corner
kick.
It's far from the end of China's scoring show, as Han Duan collected her
double with 13 minutes left on the clock following substitute Xie Caixia's
long-range drive from right wing outside the penalty box.
The victory raised China temporarily on top of the table as Italy and Mexico
ended up with a 2-2 draw earlier in the tournament's opener.
Thailand, who had been trounced 7-0 by China with Han Duan's hat-trick play
in last year's Doha Asian Games, were pressed inside their own half and managed
only 2 shots in the first half against 11 from China.
The Thais missed their best chance to earn a score on 25 minutes when China
failed to organize their defending line in time, but none of Thai strikers
emerged to give a fine shot.
Copyright The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
