China Ties Norway, US Wins Title in Women's Soccer Tourney

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 30, 2003

China Ties Norway, US Wins Title in Women's Soccer Tourney

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The Chinese women's national team were forced to a 1-1 draw against Norway in the last game of the Four Nations women's soccer tournament Wednesday in Shanghai, handing the title to the United States.

In Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium, the Chinese eleven began their revenging campaign with tides of attacks towards the reigning Olympic champion Norway, who eliminated China in the quarterfinals at the Sydney Olympics.

China took the lead in the 25th minute with a 20-meter blast by Teng Wei, who is playing for her first game as a starter in the team. Teng danced through two defenders and sent the ball sailing over the head of goalie Ingrid Hjelmseth.

Norway tied it just one minute into the second half when Unni Lehn beat the Chinese goal keeper Han Wenxia with a right-footer on the edge of the penalty area.

Chinese head coach Ma Liangxing said he was satisfied with his players' performance, especially those of young players.

"As a warming-up tournament for the World Cup, winning the title it is not the most important thing," said Ma, who made as many as seven changes to the starting line-up which beat the United States 2-0 in Wuhan earlier in the tournament.

Norway's coach Age Steen gave a thumb-up to the Chinese team, saying that China played a wonderful game even without some of their best players.

"The match is very tough. Because this is the last match, our players are very tired. And to win the World Cup, we must play better."

Earlier on Wednesday, the United States downed Germany 1-0 when Devvyn Hawkins opened the scoring in the 17th minute.

After the win, US topped the standings with 6 points from two wins against one loss, winning the tournament as well as the 40,000 dollars prize.

"We like the way we played today. Germany was in the game from the start to the finish." April Heinrichs, the head coach of U.S. said.

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