China could be comfortable World Cup quarterfinal opponent for U.S. women
EDMONTON, Alberta – Some of the crowd voted with their feet and headed out early into the balmy Edmonton night, but to their credit the members of the United States squad stuck around. From their viewpoint in the stands, they probably liked what they saw.
China's 1-0 victory over Cameroon was its first win in the knockout round of the Women's World Cup since it reached the final in 1999, but this performance will have done nothing to instill an ounce of fear in the Americans, the team it will meet if the U.S. beats Colombia on Monday.
A 12th minute strike from Wang Shanshan proved the difference between the teams in a dour affair at Commonwealth Stadium that Cameroon will feel unfortunate to have lost.
The African side has been one of the bright spots of the tournament, an active, motivated and lively team that clearly has a strong future. But instead it is the Chinese who await the U.S., assuming of course, that the next hurdle is successfully negotiated by head coach Jill Ellis and her crew.
China bases its game plan on stout defense combined with maximum work rate, and in that sense, it achieved its objective.
"My players were resilient and brave," said assistant coach Weiwei Chang. "They are like warriors."
U.S. v. China would be a match-up with plenty of history but while the Americans have remained dominant China has slipped backwards and failed to reach the 2011 tournament and the 2012 Olympics. Despite finishing second in Group A, it has not looked particularly fluent in this event.
While the backline is tough and reasonably well organized, much of the line-up is slow and sluggish. The speedier of the watching U.S. players, such as Alex Morgan and Meghan Klingenberg, will surely have been strongly encouraged at China's static formation.
One of soccer's oldest clichés is to never look past your next game, a theory Ellis surely subscribes to, but does anyone truly believe the U.S. was purely here because they couldn't find anything better to do on this Saturday evening?
The U.S. has stated its avowed intention to win the World Cup and as potential quarterfinal opponents go, China might be as comfortable as it gets. Aside from its early goal the Chinese attack was generally unthreatening, while Cameroon had a clear chance just before half-time through Gabrielle Onguene, who fired wide from close range.
Cameroon coach Enow Ngachu believes China would be capable of beating if U.S. if the teams square off in Ottawa next week.
"China used their experience to beat us," Ngachu said. "They can also create surprises in the future. The Chinese defend very well. Looking at the way they defend I think they have chances to beat the United States."
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