Day Four

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Day Four

Brazilliant!!

by Jeremy Ruane

There's no other word to describe them!

Brazil produced football from another planet at the Wuhan Sports Centre Stadium on September 15, as they silenced 54,000 passionate natives by steamrollering China 4-0 to secure their passage to the quarter-finals on Matchday Four of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals.

The Steel Roses had no answers to the Samba Queens, who treated their opponents with contemptuous ease in the final twenty minutes of a match played in an unbelievable atmosphere, the noise simply deafening at times.

Yet it could have been so different for the hosts had Wang Kun's effort hit the net and not the crossbar in the sixteenth minute of what, for the bulk of the first half, was a fascinating contest. Ten minutes later, only a magnificent save by Brazilian goalkeeper Andreia denied Song Xiaoli the opening goal of the game.

Chinese goalkeeper Han Wenxia produced a save of similar quality to thwart Renata Costa just after the half-hour mark, but the game was turned on its head three minutes before half-time when Cristiane sent Marta buccaneering down the left. She hurdled Han Wenxia's challenge outside the penalty area, and rolled the ball into an empty net.

Having gone a goal down just before half-time, China found themselves 3-0 down three minutes into the second half. Marta produced a quite astonishing pass to bisect the Chinese defence inside ninety seconds of the resumption, and Cristiane was left with just the `keeper to beat …

Still reeling from that setback, Han Wenxia compounded matters by throwing the ball straight to Marta seconds later - you simply can't legislate for mistakes of that magnitude. The reigning FIFA Women's World Player of the Year, and richly deserved recipient of the Player of the Match award in this encounter, cruised into the penalty area before setting up Cristiane for a tap-in.

There was so nearly a fourth goal in the fiftieth minute when a breathtaking build-up involving Cristiane, Marta and Daniela culminated in Cristiane's sumptuous back-heeled effort beating Han Wenxia all ends up, only to rebound back to the `keeper off a post.

Chinese captain Han Duan looked to rally the troops

One of the four Adidas promotional posters which adorned the numerous Metroline stations at WWC venues, featuring Han Duan, Marika Domanksi Lyfors (coach), Pu Wei and Ma Xiaoxu. Here are the others:

with a hoarding-rattling effort, but Brazil were in complete control, and confirmed their dominance with a stunning fourth goal twenty minutes from time. Formiga played the ball wide to Ester, whose first time pass sent Marta racing away down the right. She got around two opponents before lashing a shot goalwards, a deflection leaving Han Wenxia beaten all ends up once more.

At this, the gathered throngs started streaming out of the ground, this 4-0 hiding a devastating blow to the host nation's pride, and one which puts a fresh perspective on New Zealand's 5-0 defeat at the hands of the mighty Brazilians - it doesn't look so bad when compared with the defeat suffered by a country which openly boasts pre-tournament ambitions of a top-four finish.

China can still achieve that target, but they need to beat the Football Ferns to make the quarter-finals, and that's not going to be realised easily, as Denmark can testify. A full report appears separately, but the Danes were made to work extremely hard for their 2-0 victory over the tournament's supposed easy-beats.

But for two goals from set-pieces - Katrine Pedersen netted a twenty-yard free-kick in the 61st minute, and provided the free-kick which Cathrine Paaske Sorensen headed home five minutes later - the European contenders would have been a tad embarrassed by their determined Kiwi opponents, who rode their luck on occasions, most notably when Sorensen hit the crossbar in the eighteenth minute.

In Hangzhou, Canada kept alive their quarter-finals hopes by humbling Ghana 4-0, a victory engineered by Kara Lang. She set up both of Christine Sinclair's goals, the first a looping header with which Ghanaian goalkeeper X should have done better.

Sharne Schmidt also hit the net with a header, while X wrapped up the scoring thirteen minutes from time on a day when Australia and Norway

Sunday was a travel day for all the teams, with the Football Ferns heading to Tianjin on the one flight on the Sabbath from Wuhan to their new home away from home, south-east of Beijing.

Meanwhile, the next stop on this particular World Cup adventure is Hangzhou, which features the chance to experience the Chinese rail network, as well as watch a key match in Group A between Germany and Japan.

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