FIFA Women's World Cup hosts China, who set a target of entering top four on home soil, will take on in-form and stronger-looking Norway in the quarter-finals in Wuhan on Sunday.
It is the hardest step towards the aim of China, who frankly speaking is the weakest side of the top eight. But the highest-morale and the unexpected home advantage make nothing impossible for the hosts.
According to the latest FIFA women's ranking in June, Norway stood fourth and China were 11th.
Norway, the 1995 World Cup champions and 2000 Sydney Olympic gold medalists, topped Group C with two wins and a tie, collecting 10 goals for and four against. They beat Canada 2-1, tied Australia 1-1, crushed Ghana 7-2.
Norway's quick-pace attacks, accurate passes and crosses in the midfield and up front and powerful headers stunned the world and no one would doubt their ambition to the top podium in China.
Norway's star striker Ragnhild Gulbrandsen is topping the 2007 World Cup scorer list with five goals. She also earned her first Norway hat-trick and the 500th goal in the World Cup history in their 7-2 sweep of Ghana.
However, China struggled into the quarter-finals as the runners-up of Group D with a last-minute 3-2 win over Denmark, 4-0 loss to Athens Olympic silverists Brazil, and 2-0 victory over underdogs New Zealand.
Most Chinese fans attributed China's survival to Brazil, who had already qualified for the knockout stage after 5-0 and 4-0 wins over the Kiwis and the Chinese but played all out to beat the desperate Danes 1-0 in their last group match.
China's striking duo Han Duan and Ma Xiaoxu failed to score a single goal in their three group matches, smashing fans' expectation. Han, dubbed as "secret weapon" before, even could not create any scoring chances and squandered many.
Ma, who shone last year with Golden Ball and Golden Shoe at FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and the AFC Women's Player of the Year award, did not score for the Chinese national team for quite a long time this year.
However, Ma created many scoring chances in the group matches and shot to the posts and the crossbar several times. She was named the Player of the Match (against Denmark).
China coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors said "Han and Ma are still strong up front. I think they will score in the World Cup to help the team to advance."
"The most important thing is the win for the whole team no matter who scores. We will play in high morale in the Norway game, " said the Swede, who led Sweden to the runners-up in the 2003 World Cup and took over the Chinese team in March this year.
"When I was a player, I played against Norway many times. The China-Norway clash in the quarterfinals will be very tough, and we will do everything to win," she said.
She also noted that China had whitewashed Norway 5-0 in the 1999 World Cup semifinals.
"We are aiming the top four on home soil, and we are in top eight now, which has already been better than our FIFA ranking on 11th," she said.
Statistics shows that China and Norway have already met 21 times at senior level. Norway are in advantage with 11 wins, three ties and seven losses.
But in their two encounters in the previous World Cup, China whitewash Norway in both, 4-0 in the opening match of the inaugural edition of the tournament, and 5-0 in the semi-final of the 1999 edition.
In the first round match at the Women's Olympic Football Tournament in 2000, Norway beat China 2-1 and went on to clinch the gold medal.
Interestingly, Norway have never beaten a host nation team at the FIFA Women's World Cup. In 1991 they lost 4-0 to China and in 2003 they were eliminated 1-0 by the United States in the quarter-final.
China have progressed to the quarter-finals in all five editions of the World Cup. They reached the semi-finals in 1999 and 2003 but were eliminated at this stage by Sweden in 1991.
Domanski-Lyfors has now reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the third time in three attempts. In 1999 she led Sweden to the last eight, only to be eliminated 3-1 by Norway. In 2003 the Scandinavian took her home nation all the way to the Final, where they lost 2-1 after extra time against Germany.
Source: Xinhua
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