Olympic team beat Botswana 2-0 at Four-nation Tourney
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-02 08:31
Chinese Olympic team won 2-0 over Botswana's under-23 side on the opening day
of the four-nation invitational tournament.
Ratomir Djukovic's team, who
was humiliated by the African side with a 4-0 whitewash during their oversea
training tour last month, created many opportunities but did not converted any
of them into goals until the dying minutes of the first half.
With six
minutes to go before the break, midfielder Shen Longyuan passed the ball to Zhao
Xuri and the latter's powerful drive from 30 meters away in front ofthe
goalmouth forced a corner for China after Botswana keeper Itumeleng Selapa flung
himself to tip Zhao's kick around the post.
Chen Tao unleashed the
corner, a Botswana defender cleared it out of the box, but Shen was again picked
by the loose ball and drove it in with a tight angle to make the breakthrough
for China in the 40th minute.
After opening the scoring, the Shanghai
Shenhua player chose a special way to celebrate his goal, running off the
sideline to hug every coach and official of China on the bench.
The hosts'
second goal came with less than 15 minutes left when China forward Jiang Ning
broke through on goal after being picked out by midfielder Zhou Haibin's free
kick and headed it to beat the rival goalie.
Without the injured
Manchester United striker Dong Fangzhuo, Jiang led China's attacks but the
Qingdao Zhongneng player apparently went out of his luck on the day, having been
denied over and over again before scoring the 76th-minute goal.
No more
than 15 minutes later, the 21-year-old's header, after receiving the ball from
Chen Tao's free kick, flew over the bar, and his ground shot in the 36th minute,
after receiving Shen Longyuan's cross from the right wing, was blocked by
Botswana defenders.
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