Thanks to substitute Song Xiaoli's incredible long shot in the 88th minute, hosts China edged Denmark 3-2 to snatch the crucial three points in the FIFA Women's World Cup Group D here on Wednesday.
China head coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors said, "We did a very good job in the midfield defence and our quick-pace attacks worked well today."
"And the whole team was in top form and high morale. We deserve the win," said Domanski-Lyfors, who led Sweden to the 2003 World Cup runners-up.
Denmark's coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller had said on Tuesday that the winner of this match would be one leg into the knockout stage. However, the luck was not on his side tonight.
China boast head-to-head results of seven wins, three ties and one loss against Denmark in world arena before tonight's clash, including a 2-2 draw in 1991 World Cup in China and 3-1 win in 1995 edition in Sweden.
In tonight's breath-taking duel, the stalwart Chinese girls launched waves of attacks from the very beginning. Defender Li Jie looped a wonderful curling freekick which found the top right corner of the net.
A powerful long shot near the arc by Bi Yan lifted China to 2-0 lead in the 50th minute. However, the Danes cut the deficit to one goal only after one minute when striker Anne Dot Eggers Nielsen headed a left-wing cross into the Chinese goal.
The Danes squandered several scoring chances, until they cashed one in the 87th minute when midfielder Cathrine Paaske Sorensen jumped high to head a right-wing cross home.
As most of the fans thought of a regrettable tie, midfielder Song Xiaoli, who replaced exhausted Qu Feifei in the 58th minute, rewrote the scoreboard in just one minute to seal the win for China, who set a target of entering the top four of the tournament on home soil.
In an earlier Group D match, Athens Olympic runners-up Brazil whitewashed underdog-looking New Zealand 5-0.
Brazilian coach Jorge Barcellos said after the game, "The Kiwis focused on their defence today and they almost managed to frozen our ace striker Marta in the first half."
"However, other players' brilliant performance gave full support to Marta and smashed the Kiwis' defence later," he noted.
In the lopsided game, Brazilian midfielder Daniela Alves Lima opened the scoring only 10 minutes into the match on a nearly 25-meter-long shot.
And shinning Brazilian strikers Cristiane Rozeira, Marta Vieira de Silva and Daniela's partner in the midfield Renata Costa fulfilled the 5-0 clean sweep after the interval.
Marta, the most shining star in the Brazilian team and on the pitch tonight, showed her amazing dribbling skills in the match, breaking the Kiwis defence many times.
None of New Zealand's players were cautioned in their first World Cup appearance in 1991 in China.But in today's match against Brazil, they committed 11 fouls against Brazil's one and were booked a yellow card.
In Group C, Australia sealed their first ever FIFA Women's World Cup victory with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Ghana in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
Norway fought their way back with a 2-1 thrilling victory over a physical Canada side later.
Source: Xinhua
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