Chinese women soccer players will take on Japan in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games on Friday with spilled confidence, which may backfire on their efforts to reach the final four for the first time since the 1996 Olympics.
The Chinese team were left in a euphoric mood when finding that they are to vie with Japan, not the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (PRK), for a semifinal berth at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Nan Yong, Chinese team manager and vice president of the Chinese Football Association, was agitated to find some Chinese players had taken a semifinal spot for granted.
"I cannot understand why they are so elated. There is no weak team in the final eight, and everything could happen in the knockout stage," he said.
"I have to warn my players against any complacency. We in no way afford to underestimate Japan, otherwise we'll pay bloody cost for that.
"Some people deemed it a certainty for China to beat Japan, but in soccer we should let our feet, not our mouths, do the talking. I think it's very ridiculous to reckon how it will be after we beat Japan," he said.
For China, Japan are such quarterfinal opponents they did not and dared not expect.
"I had every reason to be happy when I heard that Japan beat Norway 5-1 and qualified for the knockout stage at the expense of DPRK," said China head coach Shang Ruihua.
China, who finished atop of their group with two wins and one draw, had braced themselves to play DPRK, a team known for physical power and tough mentality, but the situation took an unexpected turn when Japan defeated Norway to replace DPRK as one of the best group third finishers.
"I was very shocked at DPRK's exit, but this did my team a favor as my girls are better equipped to play Japan," said Shang.
China, who beat Japan 3-1 in the semifinals of the Asian Cup in June, will enjoy some psychological edge compared with Japan, according to Chinese veteran defender Liu Yali.
"We are very familiar with Japan and beat them in the Asian Cup, they are the weakest team for us to beat," she said.
Zhang Wei, a reporter of Chinese Titan magazine who is following the Chinese team, was worried about the team's ubiquitous optimism.
"Confidence is something good, but if you have too much of it, it could backfire," he said.
"I think Japan is a tough and skillful team, they could beat Norway, why can't they beat China? After all, we can not forget China lost to them in the 2006 Asian Games," he said.
China succumbed to Japan 1-0 in December, 2006 at their last group match of the Asian Games, before losing to DPRK 3-1 in the semifinals.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2008)