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| Chaina's Lou Xiaoxu (14,white) fights for the
ball with Canada's Jamani Aysha (14,red) during the first
half of their U-19 Women's World Cup Championship at Supachalasai National
Stadium in Bangkok on November 21, 2004.
[Agencies] |
An impressive
two-goal performance from Zhang Ying saw China PR past Canada in the
second FIFA
U-19 Women's World Championship quarter-final from Bangkok on 21 November.
The Canadians, deprived of number-one goalkeeper Stacey Van Boxmeer in
only the first minute, never quite found their rhythm as China march on to
a semi-final date with Brazil at the Supachalasai Stadium on 24 November.
The match started with a ringing volley of incident as Chinese
midfielder Lou Xiaoxu rounded Van Boxmeer and went to ground in a heap.
Though there appeared to be minimal - if any - contact, referee Anna De
Toni of Italy did not hesitate pointing to the
spot and brandishing red for the Canuck keeper.
Zhang Ying coolly put her spot kick past still-cold stand-in Stephanie
Labbe to see China into the lead…and all this in within three minutes. It
was the fastest sending off in FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship
history.
The Canadians, renowned for their fighting spirit, appeared profoundly
deflated by the early setback.
And their significant woes were doubled when Zhang's free kick snuck
inside Labbe's far post to increase the lead.
 In the second half, the Canadians though, did not take long in
using their smashing ability from distance to force their way onto the
scoreboard. Fiery skipper Kara Lang hammered in a free kick from the
centre circle that keeper Zhang Yanru simply could not hang onto. And the
rampant Timko was there on the doorstep to poke home for her seventh goal of the finals
- best overall.
The celebrations did not last though, as only two minutes later, a
miscue from Labbe allowed Liu Sa in to poke 'cool-as-you-like' into an
empty Canadian net.
In the end, the scoreline stood as the favourites and finalists from
Canada 2002 littered the pitch in wounded, rueful despair following the
final whistle.
China - who must consider themselves fortunate to have such an easy
time - will now take on Brazil in a rematch of their final Group B clash
at the Supachalasai. Brazil won the first meeting 2-1 on 16 November.
China coach Wang Haiming was pleased with his side's performance and
relishing another crack at Brazil in the last four. "My players did
exactly what I asked of them, and I am so pleased to see them into the
semi-finals," he said after the match. "We will make some changes for the
match against Brazil…and hopefully the result will be a bit different this
time."
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-11-22 11:18