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)
