Women's national soccer team to kick off winter training

Chinese women's national soccer team left Beijing on December 19 to start a one-month winter training session under interim head coach Wang Haiming.

The Chinese women, who earned a nickname of "Steel Roses" after winning the silver in the 1999 World Cup, have set up their training camp in Qingyuan, Fujian Province, in Southeast China.

The Steel Roses have been under fire after suffering a disastrous 8-0 defeat to reigning world champions Germany in the Athens Olympic Games.

Coach Zhang Haitao then got the sack and the Chinese women have been without a head coach since.

Tony DiCicco, former coach of the US women's soccer team, was mentioned by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and once appeared a sure person to get the job.

DiCicco, who guided the US team to the World Cup champion in 1999, has had talks with CFA in November and reports said that only technical issues have not been solved.

But another option surfaced November when Wang helped the Chinese youth team win the silver in the world youth championships in Malaysia.

DiCicco's expected arrival here in early December to sign a contract worth 300,000 US dollars was thus postponed.

Source: Xinhua