China beats Sweden 2-1 in Olympic women's soccer
China edged European powerhouse Sweden 2-1 in front of some 38,000 home fans in their opening match of the Olympic women's soccer tournament here on Wednesday.
The Chinese Steel Roses opened the scoring in the 6th minute when striker Xu Yuan steered the ball into the empty net after midfielder Zhang Na's powerful long shot bounced off the left post.
Sweden equalized in the 38th minute when striker Lotta Schelin beat Chinese goalkeeper Zhang Yanru in a counterattack and dominated the second half with their physical advantage.
However, striker Han Duan scored in the 71st minute to seal the victory for China. The 25-year-old sent a powerful shot at the edge of the box off a pass from striking partner Xu.
"We know each other very well," Han said. "So I could play some one-twos with Xu to beat defenders."
The 23-year-old Xu attended the press conference after the match for the first time. "I need to gift the goal to my parents," she told Xinhua.
"I really appreciate the two scorers," Chinese coach Shang Rihua said. "But I also need to thank our defenders for the hard work."
"The home fans gave us great support," Shang said. "Maybe that is why so many countries would like to host Olympics."
Sweden coach Thomas Dennelby was disappointed at the loss, but believed his team could still advance to the quarterfinals.
"I will forget the game quickly," he said. "I think we still have good chance to reach the knock-out stage."
"Our performance is good in the first 75 minutes," he said. "But we made some mistakes."
China started with its traditional 4-4-2 formation, attacking the opponents mainly from the wings. Coach Shang put Han and Xu on front line, with Bi Yan supporting attacks in midfield.
The Steel Roses controlled the ball better, making low and short passes as many as possible, while Sweden counted on its strong fitness and fast pace by launching long-pass attacks.
The Chinese defenders paid much attention to Sweden's ace striker Lotta Schelin from the beginning and tried hard to give her little space to play.
After Han scored China's second goal, the Scandinavians had a few chances for equalizing, but their efforts were denied by goalkeeper Zhang with excellent saves.
The Chinese lost two key players to injuries just before the match. Star forward Ma Xiaoxu injured her left knee in a warm-up against the United States, and midfielder Qu Feifei broke her leg in a tune-up with New Zealand.
China will take on Canada in its second match of Group E on Aug.9 while Sweden will face underdog Argentina.
北京时间8月6日19点45分，中国女足在天津奥林匹克中心迎来奥运会小组赛的第一个对手瑞典队。这也是中国女足所在的E组两支出线热门之间的交手。中国女足也再一次成为中国军团的开路先锋。最终2-1胜瑞典队斩获中国队出征北京奥运会首战的开门红。
对于瑞典队，中国球迷并不陌生，毕竟中国队的第一任洋帅就是瑞典人多曼斯基。瑞典女足目前世界排名第三，从十几年前开始，她们就是中国女足在各项世界大赛中的劲敌。身体素质较好，整体攻守能力平衡是这支北欧劲旅的最大特点，他们几乎没有明显的位置缺陷。首场比赛就碰到这么强硬的对手，对中国女足来说是很大的考验。
中国女足与瑞典女足奥运会首战，使很多人会想起四年前雅典奥运会，中国女足首战0：8惨败给德国队的一幕。 正是因为那场惨败的记忆，人们对女足在北京奥运会的表现有了更多期许。中国女足最终不负众望2-1战胜强大的瑞典队。从两队的交锋战绩来看，中国队并不处于上风，中国女足遭遇八年未胜对手的尴尬。中国队最近一次与瑞典队交锋是在去年的阿尔加夫杯上，中国队0：1告负，而正是在阿杯上，两队交锋最多，达到了5次，可是中国队2胜3负也处于下风
在上半场第5分钟，连续角球。张娜外围30米外中路劲射，皮球击中右立柱弹出，徐媛跟进14米处低射球门左侧打破比分僵局，中国女足获得梦幻般的开局！丢球后的瑞典不温不火，在控制节奏的同时，随即发动反击。在上半场第38分钟 瑞典队进球了，打破了中国队领先的优势将比分扳回1-1.瑞典队琳达尔后场大脚球，张颖前场滑铲断球反而形成了一个助攻，斯文松右侧传球，瑞典队前锋谢林禁区内晃过了出击的张艳茹，然后右侧16米处斜射空门，皮球击中左立柱内侧入网。随着比赛的进行，瑞典队进攻那是打得得心应手，而中国队在领先优势丢失的时候，中国队打的很是被动，跑位比较差、中场顶不起来的老问题再次显现出来。
下半场易地再战，双方都加强了攻势， 在第49分钟，韩端前场断球，跑动中27米外右脚打门可惜偏出右立柱，球出了底线。中国女足在场上表现平平，很流畅的配合并没有打出来，中国队中场完全失势，中国队踢的很是被动。反而是瑞典队在牢牢控制节奏。第53分钟，瑞典队进攻转移到左路，又是洛塔-谢林利用突出的个人能力轻松晃过李洁之后小禁区线上横传中路，可惜没有队员上前接应，皮球被张艳如轻松抱住。随后瑞典依然占据场上优势，周高萍在第59分钟的时候被对手铲倒受伤，被抬出场外接受治疗。
比赛接近71分钟的时候，替补上场的中国女足队员王丹丹传球，徐媛背身拿球回做；韩端在禁区左侧18米处左脚斜射，皮球稍碰防守球员有点变线钻入球门右下角。场上比分改写为2-1.中国女足再度领先。随后，瑞典队加强了进攻的节奏，打得很着急出现了不少的错误。直到比赛结束，双方都没有再度攻破对方球门。最终中国女足2-1胜瑞典队。
中国队首发阵容：
门将：张艳茹
后卫：周高萍、翁新芝、李洁、刘华娜
前卫：张颖(55’王丹丹)、、张娜、毕妍、浦玮
前锋：徐媛、韩端
瑞典队首发阵容：
门将： 海德维格·林达尔
后卫： 萨拉·图内布罗 、萨拉·拉松 、弗丽达·奥斯特贝里 、夏洛特·罗林
前卫：卡罗琳·塞格、约瑟菲娜·奥奎斯特、 特蕾瑟·舍格兰 、妮拉·菲舍尔
前锋：洛塔·谢林 、维多利亚·斯文松 (C)
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