Lost in Rio twice, "Steel Roses" train for short

The Chinese women's football team finally underwent their first but short training here on Sunday after its footballs and even the whole team got lost during the day.

"These interludes will only stimulate us to do better during the Olympic tournament, because our players are all 'Steel Roses,' as they are dubbed," said coach Bruno Bini from France.

According to the Bini's plan, the footballers should have finished their training in Flamengo RJ's training center before noon. But they were only able to run on the field for the whole morning, because the vehicle carrying their footballs and other equipment got lost.

To save time for more training, Bini had to cancel the press conference in the afternoon. But this time, it was the team themselves who got lost in the city.

When the team set out at 3:15 pm from the Olympic Village to the training center, the shuttle bus they had ordered didn't come, so they had to ride on the bus originally appointed to the Portuguese men's team instead, according to Chen Qingji, the team's media manager.

To make things worse, the driver didn't know how to get there.

It was already dusk when the team finally arrived at the training base. They trained for less than one hour on the field and had to call it a day.

China will be the host's first rival in the women's Olympic football tournament on Wednesday when the tournament kicks off.

Whatever happened, they would calmly face the challenges, said Gu Yasha, who had played in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"We will try our best to overcome the difficulties, and show our advantages to the audience all around the world," Gu told Xinhua.

Compared to two months ago, "we are in our best now, while the stars in the host team are not in their peak any more. It is possible that we defeat Brazil on the opening night of football tournament," said Ma Xiaoxu, who had played against Brazil in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China.

"It was unlucky that we met all these drivers who didn't know the way, " said the 61-year-old head coach.

"I do hope that our driver can bring us to the Olympic Stadium successfully tomorrow," he added. Endit