Sport / World Cup legend backs Chinese revolution

WUHAN, China: FIFA Women's World Cup-winning coach Tina Theune-Meyer has backed slumping China to confound the critics with a last-four finish at this year's women's showpiece.Theune-Meyer said the hosts, a young team with poor recent results, could emulate Germany, who were surprise semi-finalists at last year's men's FIFA World Cup."Everybody said Germany didn't have a chance but they had a good team and exactly at that moment they prepared well," said Theune-Meyer, who coached Germany's women to the 2003 title."I think it could happen again here."China have a proud history in women's football, taking silver at the 1996 Olympics and narrowly missing out on the world title three years later.But the Steel Roses have wilted of late, plunging to ninth in the rankings with four straight defeats in the recent Algarve Cup.Veteran coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors, who took Sweden to the 2003 final, was appointed last month and has the job of recapturing China's former glories.The Swede will be watching from the stands as China, marshalled by assistant coach Wang Haiming, take on Theune-Meyer's international All-Stars in a promotional match late on Saturday."I believe she will bring new ideas from Europe," said striker Han Duan."We know the current trend is for fiercer one-on-one competition and I'm sure she'll give us something in this regard."Theune-Meyer said China were in a rebuilding phase but had time to turn their fortunes around before the World Cup in September."They have to be patient. There's more than five months to go and they have a very young team," she said."They will reach the semi-finals, I'm sure. They have the ability, they're agile, they improvise and they have the fitness. They have everything."Captain Li Jie admitted China lacked experience, but said they had the talent to be competitive."The biggest problem for China now is most of the players are very young and they're not so experienced," said the defender."But I think every one of us has the potential to contribute our part on the field."The one-off All-Stars match is a prelude to the World Cup draw on Sunday, when 16 teams will be split into groups for the September 10-30 tournament. - AFP