Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 17, 2003
China coach hits out at out-of-form women's soccer team
Chinese head coach Ma Liangxing slammed his players after their 2-2 draw with Sweden in a warmup for the fourth Women's World Cup Monday in Washington.
Chinese head coach Ma Liangxing slammed his players after their 2-2 draw with Sweden in a warmup for the fourth Women's World Cup Monday in Washington.
"Their form was too bad," Ma said. "They reacted too slowly and they failed to pose any threat in the air. And their passing was loose."
Ma, dubbed "Xiao (little) Ma" by Chinese press, took over after former boss Ma Yuan'an "Lao (old) Ma" quit in early 2001.
"Maybe they are too tired because we trained very hard on Sunday."
Ma said that the Chinese women should have worked harder in the game. "They should play with more determination and could never give up during the full 90 minutes."
"Conceding two goals is normal," he said. "We will adjust our form after this match and strive for better results in the World Cup."
"we play to make fans happy"
China captain Sun Wen, one of the world's most exciting strikers the women's soccer has ever seen, said that the upcoming women's World Cup will incomparable with the last edition four years ago.
"It is the best one four years ago," the 30-year-old said. "But this is women's football, which has always had ups and downs since it was played for the first time."
Sun, the Golden Boot Award winner at the last World Cup, said people should not be sad with the slump of women's football.
"We just played to make the fans happy," she said.
The China skipper was not satisfied with their performance in their 2-2 draw with Sweden.
"They have made big progress in the past four years. They had a better team work and controlled the ball better."