China coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors on Saturday expressed the hope that Brazil, who had 99 percent qualified for the knockout stage, would play all out to beat Denmark in the tricky last round of Group D matches.
Brazil, who whitewashed New Zealand 5-0 in their FIFA Women's World Cup Group D opener, upset hosts China 4-0 in the second round here on Saturday night.
Denmark, who lost 3-2 to China on Wednesday, beat New Zealand 2-0 this afternoon to get the same three points with China, and boast a four winning goal advantage to stand second on the standings.
Domanski-Lyfors, a Swede who led Sweden to 2003 World Cup runners-up and took over the Chinese team in March this year, said, "I hope Brazil will show their professionalism in the Denmark game to beat the Danes."
"Of course, we will also try to beat New Zealand and to score as many as possible," she added.
China has set a target of entering the top four of the tournament on home soil.
Domanski-Lyfors admitted that after losing 4-0 to Brazil, half of her team's fate was in the hands of Brazil.
If Brazil lose to Denmark and China fail to collect enough goals, Brazil and Denmark will advance to the quarterfinals.
Commenting on today's defeat, Domanski-Lyfors said, "Brazil are indeed stronger than China. They have a group of talented players, such as Marta."
"Marta not only boast her brilliant personal skills, but also the ability to read matches. She is the player who can raise the level of a team," she added.
"We played quite well in the first half, but squandered two scoring chances to lead. And we committed a fatal mistake in the last minutes of the first half," Domanski-Lyfors said.
"Competing with a team like Brazil, if you can not score, they will score definitely," she said.
Source: Xinhua
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