China won their first match of the AFC Under-19 Women's
Championship with a 9-0 victory over Jordan in Group B at Kuala
Lumpur Cheras Stadium in Malaysia on Tuesday.?
The favored Chinese side needed to get back to winning ways
after suffering a shock 1-0 defeat to Australia in their opening
pool match on Sunday.
China, who led 4-0 at half-time, now look certain to secure
second place in the group ahead of their final match on Thursday
against hosts Malaysia.
Shang Ruiha, the China?coach, already has his eye on the
semi-finals.
"It's the first time we played against Jordan and, although they
lost to us, they have some good players who have some good
technical skills. I'm sure they will develop into a good team in
the future," said Shang.
"As for us, we wanted to go forward more than we did against
Australia so we fielded more attacking players."
"There is still a long way to go but we are looking forward to
getting to the semi-finals and then winning the tournament."
Jordan coach Maher Abu Hantash said his game-plan for the match
ended after China?scored two early goals.
"The idea was to have man-to-man marking and then hit them on
the break but our players lost their organization for the first two
goals," he said.
"After that, we were not able to do much but I congratulate
China on their victory."
China's goals were shared by six players with defenders Weng
Xinzhi and Wang Dongni and forward Ma Xiaoxu each grabbing a
brace.
Zi Jingling, Zhang Weishuang and Meng Yali chipped in with a
goal each.
Jordan, aiming to finish at least third in the pool, end their
Group B campaign against Australia on Thursday.
(CRI English April 12, 2006)