China to face Russia in opener of Four-Nation tourney

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 28, 2004

China to face Russia in opener of Four-Nation tourney

Host China is take on Russia while Romania face Morocco in the opening round of the Four-nation invitational in Liuzhou, south China on Wednesday.

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Host China is take on Russia while Romania face Morocco in the opening round of the Four-nation invitational in Liuzhou, south China on Wednesday.

The four Olympic squads will move to Guilin for the rest two rounds of competition of a round-robin format.

"We won't pay much attention to the results. Even if we failed to win, we would not lose any confidence," said Shen Xiangfu, headcoach of the Chinese U-23 squad. "What I'm looking for is get the team ready for the Athena Games and let the young players learn some international experience." Shen added.

"I don't know much about the three teams but it is know that both Russia and Romania are the traditional European soccer power and Morocco are as strong as the other two," said Shen.

Morocco twice outclassed South Korea, long-time rivals of China's in Asian soccer and group opponents in the Olympic qualifier for Athens, in Toyota Youth Championship early this month in Qatar.

"The three teams are rated even stronger than our group opponents in the Olympic qualifier so it is sure for we to reap much experience in the tournament," Shen said. He has been with the team for four years and once led them into the last 16 in the 2000 World Youth Championships before losing to hosts Argentina.

China was drawn into the so-called "Group of Death" in the Olympic qualifying round with South Korea, Iran and Malaysia, which make many Chinese wonder what the chances are booking a ticket to the Olympics for the first time in 16 years.

"I hope my players learn something from other teams and keep a high spirit and confidence no matter what results they get," he said. "Our intention in the warm-up event is try to find where we should improve, after all."

The Chinese squad resume their Athens Olympic qualifier on March 3 away to South Korea, who pose as a seemingly insuperable obstacle in the past 12 years since China surrendered all matches against South Korea in the past three versions of Olympic qualifiers.

Source: Xinhua

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