The China Olympic team reached the semifinals of the U-21 Toulon soccer tournament after seeing off Ghana, 2-1, in southern France on June 5.

The Chinese team will face off against another African team, group A runners-up Cote d'Ivoire later today while France meet Portugal in an all-European semi-final.

The game started badly for China as Ghana capitalized on a mistake by defender Wang Shouting to open the scoring after eight minutes. However, China came out swinging in the second-half and two goals from playmaker Chen Tao and forward Jiang Ning gave them the win.

China's Serbian coach Ratomir Dujkovic seemed satisfied with the result, saying the team remained focused on winning the championship.?

Like their previous match against Holland won 2-0, China battled hard at the death to protect their lead with defender Lu Jianjun sent off for a second bookable offence 12 minutes from time.?

Portugal followed China's steps to the semifinals after drawing 0-0 with Holland in the other Group B match.

In Group A, France dominated, obliterating Germany 4-1 and Japan 5-1.Cote d'Ivoire edged out Japan 1-0 to finish second in the group.

(China Daily June 7, 2007)