Womens 2007 World Cup; match 8

Group D, 12/9/07 in Wuhan.

China v. Denmark

China: W.Han, J.Li (Y.Liu 93), K.Wang, C.Xie, Y.Bi, L.Pan, D.Han, X.Ma, W.Pu, F.Qu (X.Song 58), G.Zhou (Y.Zhang 68).

Denmark: H.Johansen, M.Olsen, K.Pedersen, G.Andersen, B.Falk, J.Rydahl-Bukh, C.Paaske-Sorensen, A.Dot Eggers Nielsen, M.Gajhede (S.Dimun 75), J.Rasmussen (M.Pedersen 75), M.Pape.

It was hardly surprising that China, hosts and with a volatile crowd behind them, started strongly in their opening fixture against Denmark.

The Steel Roses won an early corner on the left from which they hit the top of the bar with an inswinging delivery. This was the first in a series of corners which had the Denmark defence under pressure but once this storm had been ridden out the game settled down and became more even.

The highly rated Ma Xiaoxu came forward to send in a bit of a toe bunger effort which bounced in front of Heidi Johansen but was dealt with safely.

There was a better chance when a slip in the Denmark defence left Han Duan in a shooting position but Johansen was able to block her fierce low drive at the near post.

Denmark had played plenty of neat football but rarely looked like working an opening. They fared better when a looping centre from the right caught China's defence napping but Maiken Pape could only poke the ball wide at point blank range.

Half an hour in China took the lead with a little help from a referee who might well have been hand selected by FIFA as not being able to handle the pressure of refereeing the hosts.

Katrine Pedersen dispossessed Bi Yan on the edge of the area with a clean tackle but China were awarded a free kick anyway. There was no disputing the quality of Li Jie's emphatic strike as it arrowed into the top corner, however.

Denmark responded and Pape should have scored when Han Wenxia came for a corner and got nowhere near it but the striker headed wide of the target.

China's keeper would not stop coming for, and missing, corners until the Danes did actually score from one.

China had a fine chance to increase their lead shortly before half time when Zhou Gaoping's cracking cross from the left picked out Han Duan but her glancing header was wide of the far post.

China did increase their lead out of nothing at the start of the second half, however. The build up to the goal was scrappy and when Bi Yan struck for goal from 30 yards it needed a deflection and a feeble goalkeeping attempt to send the ball into the net.

That might have been that but Denmark struck back immediately to keep themselves right in contention. Johanna Rasmussen sent over a deep corner from the right, Han Wenxia went walkabout yet again, and Anne Dot Eggers Nielsen headed into the empty net from three yards out.

Denmark came forward again quickly with a good move that ended with Rasmussen crossing to the near post but Julie Rydahl-Bukh's effort lobbed wide. That seemed to be because of a deflection off a defender but Denmark were getting nothing from the referee unless it was clearer than crystal. A very clear crystal at that.

Not surprisingly Denmark looked to be suffering more than the hosts in the conditions and their efforts to get back on terms became somewhat sporadic.

Ma Xiaoxu had been quiet but began influencing the game more as it wore on. She danced her way into the box down the left hand side before sidefooting narrowly wide of the far post and then produced a sweet back heel to set Bi Yan up for a shooting chance that was just wide from 20 yards.

With fifteen minutes left Denmark sent on Merete Pedersen and Stine Dimun as substitutes and this pair helped raise their teams' tempo. Pedersen quickly sent in a low cross that Han Wenxia spilled and was following up into the box to shoot over as the ball eventually rolled loose.

Pedersen then showed good pace down the left and crossed for Pape whose flicked header found Dimun arriving at the far post. The substitutes shot was well hit but Han was able to scoop the ball behind from underneath the angle.

After this spurt subsided it looked as though China would hold on fairly comfortably but with the minutes ticking down the hosts committed too many players forward and Denmark hit them with a rapid counter attack.

Dimun made ground down the right before supplying an inviting cross that was met by Cathrine Paaske-Sorensen and her header appeared to loop off her markers' shoulder before dropping nicely underneath the crossbar and Denmark were level.

Within seconds, however, China sent a high hopeful ball forward and when it dropped loose just outside the area Song Xiaoli took a touch on her chest before rifling in a stupendous half volley that crashed into the net via the underside of the bar.

Unbelievable.

Although this was a pretty entertaining game neither side looks likely to challenge for the title on this evidence. You never know with host nations though.

Finally a word about the referee and FIFA. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that the most difficult games to handle at a womens World Cup finals will be the ones involving the hosts.

Those are the games that will have the biggest crowds and the biggest pressure.

So what do FIFA do? They pluck three officials from the West Indies and make sure that the one that gets to ref is the fattest one they can find.

Perhaps Diane Ferreira-James is a top referee but she didn't look like one here and gave absolutely everything to the hosts.

And this was another game, like England's, where body strength was actually a disadvantage because the referee simply penalised anyone who showed any.

Full Time: China 3 Denmark 2