China looks to create miracle in Olympic soccer qualifiers

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 06, 2004

China looks to create miracle in Olympic soccer qualifiers

Beaten by South Korea 1-0 and heldby lowly Malaysia 1-1 at home, the Chinese under-23 national soccer team thinks they can create miracles in the Olympic qualifying tournament.

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Beaten by South Korea 1-0 and heldby lowly Malaysia 1-1 at home, the Chinese under-23 national soccer team thinks they can create miracles in the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Coach Shen Xiangfu's side lies second in Group A with four points, five adrift of leader South Korea, who have won all three matches.

Shen, who had vowed to score four or five goals against Malaysia, was under big fire after his team managed only one pointin Wuhan, central China, on March 20.

But they saw a glimpse of hope again to qualify for the Athens Olympics this summer with a thrilling 3-1 win over Iran one week later.

Yan Shiduo, vice president of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), was full of praise for the team for their spirited performance in the Iran match at a meeting early this month and encouraged them to achieve good results.

"Don't calculate the points. Just be prepared for the next match," he said. "And you should forget whether you can qualify ornot. You should look to win all the remaining three matches."

China will travel to Iran next week and a win will impose pressure on South Korea.

Captain Du Wei was confident that China can play in Athens.

"We have been preparing for Athens Olympics for four years," hesaid. "We cannot succumb to the difficulties. We should fight to the last gasp."

"We still believe that we can qualify," he said.

China will host South Korea on May 1 and play their last match against Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on May 12.

Source: Xinhua

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