Swede Marika Domanski-Lyfors, head coach of China's national
women's soccer team, told press here Wednesday that she's not
afraid of the pressure playing the upcoming World Cup and Olympic
Games on Chinese soil.
"First of all, I'm very proud to be the head coach of Chinese
team, and I also like the pressure," said the 47-year-old, who took
over the Chinese team two months ago and signed a contract till
2008 with the Chinese Football Association (CFA) in April.
Under her reign, the home side beat Mexico 1-0 here Wednesday
after Sunday's 4-0 victory over Thailand to keep on top of the
table at the 2007 International Women's Soccer Invitational
Tournament on July 1-10 co-hosted by Shenyang and Qinhuangdao, both
having venues to hold matches of the Beijing Olympic Games soccer
tournament.
As a warming-up event for September's World Cup in five cities
of China, the four-nation tourney has been expected to boost
confidence of the Chinese side, who had suffered a tough time in
the last decade with disappointing results from both World Cups and
Olympics.
But Domanski is not depressed either at the ongoing event or
toward the coming World Cup and Olympics.
"I have been involved in every World Cup since 1991, and also
the Olympics. I think I can handle the pressure and for the team, I
have the confidence that they can handle it," said Domanski at a
post-match press conference after Wednesday's 1-0 win over
Mexico.
Domanski, former head coach of Sweden who had led the European
side to the 2003 World Cup final where they lost to Germany and
stepped down in 2005 after nine years in charge, had made it public
that she aimed to lead the former world runners-up to at least a
semifinal finish in the World Cup on 10-30 September before trying
her luck at the 2008 Olympic Games.
The Swede got respects from her counterpart as Cuellar Rivera
Leonardo, head coach of the Mexican team, sang praise to the hosts
as well as their coach Domanski.
"China have some young players and they all made progress very
rapidly. I respect my counterpart of the Chinese side, she's really
successful in leading her team to play good soccer and practice
soccer," he said.
Again on Wednesday, Domanski repeated that the coaching staff
were still testing squad, though there's doubting voice and she has
been given the deadline of the end of this month to announce her
18-strong roster.
"I've tested different squad in last three matches (including
the friendly against the United States in America last month),
because we may need more than 11 players to play the upcoming World
Cup. If I used the same 11, there were more chances for the players
to get injured and I think that's dangerous," she said.
Commenting on the evening's game, Domanski said: "I think this
is a very good game both technically and tactically. We knew it
would be a tough game, since we played Mexico before and they are
really very strong. And the game went on almost this way."
China, with six points from two games, will play their last
match against Italy Saturday back to Qinhuangdao before a top two
finish on standings may give them a place in Tuesday's final of the
four-nation event.
Italy now follow China on the table with four points after
drawing 2-2 with Mexico on Sunday and beating Thailand 5-0
Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2007)