If the Chinese women's soccer team is going to meet expectations and keep home fans happy, it needs to beat Sweden in its opening match at the Olympics on Aug. 6.
The two sides are in Group E with Argentina and Canada. With the aim of winning an Olympic medal at home, the Chinese Steel Roses hoped they could finish first in the group to avoid mighty Germany or Brazil from Group F in quarterfinals.
"Sweden has had a professional women's league for several years and it's of a high standard," China's coach Shang Rihua said.
"Sweden has fast attack and aggressive defense," Shang told Xinhua. "How to better control the ball is very important for us."
China and Sweden have previously met four times at the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Olympics, with the Asians winning twice and the Scandinavians once, with one draw.
China has traditionally been a women's soccer power but has slid in the FIFA world rankings to No. 14, lagging far behind of Sweden's No. 3.
However, the statistics never tell the full story in football, and the Chinese are determined to put on a good show before home fans at the Olympics.
"Back in the 1990s we were among the best in the world, but the trend has been downwards in recent years. We'll do everything possible to give the best possible account of ourselves this time," coach Shang said.
In March, China's former coach Frenchwoman Elisabeth Loisel was replaced by the 64-year-old Shang, who is known as godfather of women's soccer in China and brought the national team into the quarterfinals of inaugural FIFA Women World Cup 17 years ago.
Since Shang took charge, some new faces have been added into his squad, but the core of the team remains experienced: captain Li Jie shores up the defence, Bi Yan takes care of the creative job in the midfield, and Han Duan spearheads the attack.
However, star forward Ma Xiaoxu will miss the Olympics as she injured her left knee in a warm-up against the United States, casting shadows on the team's prospect.
On the Sweden side, it is obviously physically stronger than the Chinese and may count on this advantage by launching fast attacks and playing aggressively on defense.
"There's going to be a big crowd rooting for China, but we're a very experienced team and mentally prepared," said Sweden coach Thomas Dennerby. "We have a good defense and our attacking play is getting better and better."
Most of Swedish players have taken part in the FIFA World Cup last year when it failed to reach quarterfinals despite beating Asian giant DPRK 2-1 in last group match.
The team has several players with 100 appearances including top striker Victoria Svensson, but the veteran player, once unstoppable, seems to be over the hill. Coach Dennerby has been opting for a youth policy in recent friendly games.
Standing out from the young talents is striker Lotta Schelin, who was Swedish Player of the Year for 2006 and is often compared to Swedish men's national team's counterpart Zlatan Ibrahimovic in terms of goal sense, guile and creativity.
"Schelin, with fast pace and excellent technique, poses great threat to China," Shang told Xinhua.
Sweden lost 1-0 to reigning Olympic champion the Unites States in a tune-up match in July. However, the team looked to be in a good form, creating more scoring chances in the game than the opponents.
"Our goal is a medal. We are not here just to play in the group," Svensson said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2008)