China soccer official critical of Steel Roses' World Cup show

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 01, 2003

China soccer official critical of Steel Roses' World Cup show

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China women's soccer team failed to put up a "satisfactory" performance although they have qualified for the quarter-finals of the fourth Women's World Cup, a top Chinese soccer official said Portland on Monday.

Nan Yong, vice president of China Football Association (CFA), was angry at China's below-par show, saying they are too "immature."

"Anyway, we should be delighted to qualify as Group D leader," Nan said. "But the performance was not what we had expected. We should have scored many more goals. And the qualifying route was too dangerous.

"We had too many ups and downs, which shows that we are far from a mature team."

Nan said that the players were too nervous in the field too play the way they did in training.

"I am especially unsatisfied with their second half play in the last game against Russia," he said.

China, who led the first half 1-0, created numerous chances after the restart but failed to score their second goal.

"I don't know why they were so nervous," Nan said. "They had already qualified before the match."

Nan said coach Ma Liangxing was also a little "nervous" during the three group matches and must improve his ability to handle difficult situations in a game.

"Ma is a young coach without any Olympic or World Cup experiences. He has done a lot of work and is getting better and better," Nan said of his employer.

China, who had a 1-1 draw with Australia and two 1-0 victories over Ghana and Russia respectively in Group D, have three days offbefore taking on Canada in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

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