China vows to beat Malaysia in Olympic soccer qualifier

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 17, 2004

China vows to beat Malaysia in Olympic soccer qualifier

Chinese soccer squad have no option but beat Malaysia here on March 20 in their second group match of Asian zone qualifying tournament for Athens Olympics.

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Chinese soccer squad have no option but beat Malaysia here on March 20 in their second group match of Asian zone qualifying tournament for Athens Olympics.

Shen Xiangfu, head coach of the Chinese team, said Tuesday, "We must have a full play in our skills and team works if we want to win the match. And only if we do it, we can have a good result."

China, South Korea, Iran and Malaysia were drawn in one group and only the top winner will qualify the Olympic games. Each squad will play home-and-away games with their opponents. China were beaten by South Korea 1-0 in Seoul in their first group match on March 3 while Iran downed Malaysia 4-1.

"In our away game against South Korea, we could have a better result if we showed 70 percent of what we had practiced before. Unfortunately, it seemed to be less than 20 percent." Shen said.

"Although all my players told me before the match that they were not nervous, what I saw in the game was much worse than what I predicted," he added.

"It was the first time for most of my players to play key games such as Olympic qualifiers, and that might be the reason for their poor form in the first match. I hope they can do a better job this time." Shen said.

After the game against Malaysia, China will host Iran here on March 27. Enditem

Source: Xinhua

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