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(Roundup) China's women back to World Cup stage

Xinhua, June 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Four years ago, China missed the Women's World Cup. This time in Canada, China finished into the top eight and proved a promising powerhouse again at the world's top level tournament.

After losing 1-0 to the title-favorites United States Friday in the quarter-finals, China completed their first trip to the World Cup in eight years with one win, one draw and two losses, but the tournament is a success to the resurgent Chinese girls.

Back to the 1999 World Cup, China produced the best finals with the U.S. when over 90,000 fans turned out at the Rose Bowl of California, which remains the large crowd ever to watch a women's sports event.

China was recoganized as one of the best women's football nations in the world for over a decade though they failed twice to enter the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2003 and 2007, before they disappeared in 2011 Germany.

They finished last in the 12-team Algarve Cup in March and were grouped with the hosts Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand here when most Chinese media saw no hope of advancement from the first round.

But the Chinese girls finished second in the group, beating Cameroon 1-0 in round of 16, and fighting bravely throughout the quarter-final against the U.S. with a one-goal deficit.

"China are noble opponents," U.S. head coach Jill Ellis said. "They're an organized team, probably one of the best organized teams in this tournament, making it very very hard to break down."

Cameroon's head coach Enow Ngachiu said China have a chance to beat the U.S. after his team lost 1-0 in round of 16.

"I think China's defence is one of the best in the tournament. We didn't have space to score because there're always 5-6 Chinese players ran as fast as they could for the ball. We didn't have many chances to score," he said. "I think they can made more surprises, even facing the U.S.."

China scored five goals and conceded five in the five matches here.

Averaging 23.4, the young Chinese team is still on the uphill journey and has good chances to continue its ambitions four years later.

Center pieces Wang Shanshan, who is 25, Han Peng, 26, Wang Lisi, 24, along with promising talents like Tan Ruyin (21), captain Wu Haiyan (22) and a deep pool of younger bench form the future of the Chinese women's football.

With more and more Chinese parents refusing to send their girls to the sport, the tradition helped a lot to keep the women's football on track in China after eight-year absence from the World Cup stage.

"My players have a great and perfect tournament here. They've done their best. I hope they could all be with the team for another four years," Chinese head coach Hao Wei said.

"I hope the success in Canada could give Chinese parents some thoughts about women's football," Hao added. "This is just a sport and I hope more Chinese girls enjoy the love of football."

The unexpected success of the Chinese team at the Canada World Cup reminded more memories of the 1999 finals, and this is a new set-off of the China women football. Endi