Hosts China miss target, Domanski may quit
Updated: 2007-09-24 14:50
WUHAN -- Hosts China's run in the ongoing FIFA Women's World Cup ended here Sunday while losing 1-0 to Norway in the quarter-final.
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China coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors' fate is pending as the hosts missed their target of advancing to top four on home soil.
Domanski-Lyfors, a Swede who led Sweden to runners-up in 2003 World Cup and took over the Chinese side in March this year, said, "At this moment, I don't know if I can direct this team to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics."
However, midfielder Bi Yan, the Chinese captain today, showed her strong support to Domanski-Lyfors.
"Since she came to us, our team has made many great changes. Now, the whole team is united as one person," Bi said.
"Domanski-Lyfors has brought many new things to us, which helped us a lot. All of us love our coach. We treat her as our mother." Bi said.
"I hope she will continue coaching us!" She noted.
China beat Denmark 3-2 with late winning goal, lost 4-0 to Athens Olympic runners-up Brazil and won 2-0 over underdogs New Zealand to be the runners-up of Group D, following leaders Brazil into the quarter-finals.
Domanski-Lyfors hailed the brilliant performance of her players in the Norway duel, saying, "We lose in bad luck."
Norway, the 1995 World Cup titlists and Sydney Olympic champions, captured the only chance in the first half to beat the hosts and set up a semi-final clash with defending champions Germany.
After boasting a 7-1 advantage in shot statistics in the first 30 miuntes, China conceded a goal in 32nd when defender Wang Kun lost concentration in the box, let the chasing Norwegian striker Isabell Herlovsen secured the ball from her control. Herlovsen shot the gift home without any hesitation.
"We dominated the game in most of the time, pressed the Norwegians very hard and created many scoring chances. The Norwegians only had one brilliant chance but they captured it," said Domanski-Lyfors.
The stalwart Chinese girls created more scoring chances than the Norwegians, 15 against 8 in statistics, and often laid siege on their opponents. But they lost in the end. All the Chinese girls and Domanski-Lyfors burst into tears in the locker room.
Women's soccer in China suffered a slump after the 1999 World Cup, in which the "Steel Roses" spearheaded by star striker Sun Wen and playmaker Liu Anling grabbed the silver medal, the best outcome of China in world top-level soccer arena.
Most Chinese bear in mind their Roses' dazzling 5-0 win over the then reigning champions Norway in the semifinal and the regrettable loss in the final to the hosts United States through penalty shootouts.
With the boot-hanging of the then stars, China failed to smoothly pass the transition period for a long time with the lack of young talents and the frequent changes of coaches.
Chinese fans were stunned by their women team's 8-0 collapse to Germany at the Athens Olympic Games and 4-1 loss to minnows Iceland in this year's Algarve Cup.
Since Marika Domanski-Lyfors took over the Chinese team in late March, China began to be back on track with a string of victories.
The obvious weakness in the midfield might be the main obstacle for the hosts to achieve their top-four goal in the World Cup.
Norway coach Bjame Berntsen said here Sunday that China need more quick-pace young talents to further develop their women's soccer.
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