Chinese women beaten by England 2-1 at soccer friendly

Former World Cup finalist China were beaten by England 2-1 in an women's World Cup warm-up here on Thursday.

In front of 5,665 fans at Manchester City's Academy Stadium, England opened the scoring after only 56 seconds as Jodie Taylor tapped in a cross from Fran Kirby.

Kirby made it 2-0 nine minutes later, collecting Jordan Nobbs's pass into the box, turning neatly and blasting the ball into the roof of the net.

China calmed down from the early scare and pulled one goal back in the 17th minute. Mark Sampson's side failed to clear Wang Shuang's corner and Wang Shanshan rose high to head it home.

Both sides created some chances afterwards but neither could turn them into goals.

"It was really tough after conceding two goals after 10 minutes," said Chinese head coach Hao Wei. "But we regrouped well after that and played smartly."

China have not tasted a victory in nine matches since beating Argentina 6-0 in the four-nation tournament in Brazil early this year. But Hao said that England are no better than China.

"Although England are ranked 10 places above us at the FIFA rankings, I think we are at the same level."

Chinese striker Ren Guixin said that a surprisingly wet pitch cost them the victory.

"The pitch was watered twice before the kick-off," she said. "We found it hard to play. Maybe it was the reason that we conceded two early goals."

China were drawn with Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands in Group A while England are in Group F with France, Mexico and Colombia in the Women's World Cup, to be held in Canada from June 6 to July 5. Endi