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SHENYANG, Northeast China - With two months to go ahead of the women's soccer World Cup on Chinese soil, the host country's national team is trying to come out of the doldrums and head forward with more confidence.

China edged Mexico 1-0 in the final to get crowned of the four-nation invitational tournament, which saw four consecutive victories from the Chinese women's team in the Beijing Olympic Games test-venue event.

"We harvest confidence from the tournament. That's the most important thing I've expected from it and a key in building up my World Cup squad," said Chinese coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors.

Before the Swede taking charge in mid of last April, the once shining "Steel Roses" had been in ailing form for years.

China, formerly one of the leading teams of the world during the past decade who took the silver medal in the 1999 World Cup as well as in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, have slumped with sharp contrast to the fast development of European and American women's football.

They had been stopped paces before the World Cup semifinals in 2003 after the tournament having been moved from China to the United States due to SARS, and then further failed to make the knocking-out stage of the Athens Olympic Games women's soccer competitions in 2004, suffering an embarrassing 8-0 lose to Germany and a surprising 1-1 draw with Mexico in group phrase.

After the smashup in Athens, the country's soccer governing body, the Chinese Football Association (CFA), fired head coach Zhang Haitao and appointed former coach of men's soccer Pei Encai, who reigned for a disappointing six-month coaching experience, before inviting Ma Liangxing for another inception in 2006.

The veteran coach Ma, having made a first spell with the Chinese side since aged "Father of the Roses" Ma Yuan'an retired in 2002, led the team to rally a little but failed to return to its former heights in international competitions.

Last July, the women's team of China won the AFC Women's Asian Cup, but they lost to DPR Korea late in December in the semifinals of the Doha Asain Games, failing to complete the top two-place bottom line the CFA had expected beforehand.

In February, Ma disappeared from the training base ahead of the Four Nations tournament at South China's Guangzhou late January citing illness, which left the team high and dry as the CFA failed to appoint a new one to make up his vacancy.

Steered by caretaker Wang Haiming on the absence of Ma, China again disappointed the fans with a nightmarish run in the Algarve Cup football tournament in March, when they lost four straight matches.

The series of bad results sent the team, who have shifted head coach five times since 2002, on brink before Domanski came in charge, as the CFA seeks to reverse a slide that has seen the former top one fall to 11th place in the world rankings.

Tuesday's victory is a continuation of the new Chinese squad vying with non-powerhouses in warming-ups to receive boost ahead of the World Cup.

In last month's overseas training rally, the Chinese team took one win, two draws and a defeat, only losing to former Olympic and World Cup champions the United States.

The just concluded tourney, however, featured none of World Cup qualified teams except the hosts themselves.

World No. 13 Italy, the highest ranked side among the hosts' rivals, were trounced 3-1 by China in their last round-robin match Saturday in Qinhuangdao, after the Chinese women routed Thailand 5-0 in the opening game and edged Mexico 1-0 on July 4.

With four straight wins, the Chinese team is not as strong as it seems like.

Domanski, who repeated to call on attacking, failed to see new killers emerged from the reserve team, though she listed up a 34-member roster and made many trials on lining-ups during the tournament.

China's key striker Han Duan proved herself unreplaceable, collecting 10 goals in 4 outings in the four-nation tourney, while veteran forward Zhang Ouying, who just returned to international soccer from two-year retirement, scored once as she showed the same fine skills and swift paces but apparently lacked in physical force.

The Swede's next hope will be on Ma Xiaoxu, the AFC's Women's Player of the Year, who promised to join Domanski's squad later this month, but Ma's days with the Swedish women's soccer champions Umea IK may take her more time in tune with her Chinese teammates.

China have already been seeded alongside defending champions Germany, the United States and Norway for the Women's World Cup 2007 slated for September 10-30 in Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan, Hangzhou and Chengdu, with a total of 16 teams of the highest level are going to attend.

For the upcoming showpiece, the last major women's soccer event prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Domanski will be bound to work under huge pressure after Chinese sports officials set the squad a minimum target of a semifinal finish.