Xie Yalong, vice president of the Chinese Football Association
(CFA), expressed the CFA's hope to retain Swedish Marika Domanski
Lyfors as the women's team head coach in spite of her failure to
steer the "Steel Rose" to the last four at the Women's World
Cup.
Hosts China were shut out by the Norway 1-0 in the
quarter-finals in Wuhan, which means Domanski failed to achieve her
task of reaching the semifinals.
But the changes that Domanski has brought to the Chinese team
have impressed most of the Chinese media, as well as the fans.
According to media polls and local reports, the majority of fans
hope the Swede will remain as head coach.
"The contract between the CFA and Domanski will last till the
2008 Beijing Olympics. Now we are summarizing the team's World Cup
performance and both sides have expressed strong will and honesty
to continue our cooperation in the next stage." said Xie.
"But we still need to talk about some details of the contract
and that needs a bilateral agreement. Domanski also has the right
to choose (whether to continue)."
The Chinese players also hope Domanski will stay.
"She is a very good coach. She brings us a lot of confidence and
smiles. I hope that she can stay," said midfielder Bi Yan.
China made a nice start at the showpiece tournament, beating
European new force Denmark 3-2 with three thrilling long-range
goals.
The hosts were frustrated by the skillful Brazil 4-0, but
rallied and finally made it through to the knock-out stage after a
2-0 win over New Zealand.
In the game against Norway, China created more chances and
showed their best performance of the four games.
Although the result failed to meet expectation, the fans are
satisfied with Domanski's ability. When she took over the team five
months ago, the situation was rather awkward and shabby.
China experienced a disastrous Algarve Cup without a head coach
following the disputes inside the team at the Guangzhou "Four
Nations Tournament" earlier this year. The previous boss stepped
down after an alleged heart attack.
Domanski's arrival was in time.
The Chinese media is now expecting the Swede to deliver a medal
at the 2008 Olympic Games.
(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2007)