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China hope to win with great efforts at Algarve Cup

Xinhua, March 1, 2017 Adjust font size:

China's women's football team head coach Bruno Bini expressed his hope to win every game with huge efforts at the pre-match conference of 2017 Algarve Cup here on Tuesday, one day before the tournament kicked off.

The Chinese team, known as the "Steel Roses", claimed the title twice in 1999 and 2002, while hitting the bottom as they recorded the worst-ever 12th, also bottom position at the tournament in their last attempt in 2015.

China did not feature one year later due to a schedule clash between Algarve Cup and the Asian qualifications for Rio Olympic Games.

The team has been in preparation for the tournament in southern France for three-week time after Chinese lunar new year, and arrived at the competition site in southern Portugal last Friday for their final-phase preparation.

China, who ranked 13th in FIFA world rankings, were regarded as underdogs in their 21st appearance, as they were scheduled to meet world No. 6 Australia, No. 8 Sweden and No. 12 the Netherlands, with their debut in the 2017 edition against the Netherlands slated on Wednesday.

"The other three teams in our group all have higher rankings than us. We have plenty of experience here, so we will spare no efforts in these games," said Bruno.

"Almost every coach says here that their team will try hard, but this is a competition between players rather than coaches. Overall, we hope to win every game," he added.

"We are expecting a high-quality competition. It's not easy for us to come here, so we should put more expectations on the game," commented Allen Stajcic, Australian head coach.

Reigning champions Canada will face hosts Portugal, Denmark and Russia in Group A. 2011 World Cup winner Japan are in Group B with Norway, Spain and Iceland.

According to the tournament's format, the two best group winners will compete for the champions, and the odd one will fight for the third place against the leading runner-ups. Other teams will adapt the same format, in which the remaining spots from fifth to 12th position will be determined through direct match-ups pitting teams against their closest counterparts based on round-robin group results.

The 24th edition of Algarve Cup will curtain down on March 8. Endit