China beat Nigeria 1-0 in the opening-day match of the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship Wednesday in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Nigeria took the initiative to keep the ball most of time in the first half with a pair of corner kicks, but did not succeed in scoring, while the Chinese also failed to exploit their chances as their shots were either wide or denied by Nigerian goalie.

The Chinese girls made two long-range attempts in the 67th and 68th minutes before netting in the lone goal of the match in the 77th minute through Zhang Ying with a header as she connected a free kick off Xu Yuan.

Nigeria has tried hard for an equalizer but failed to found the net until the final whistle.

"I am satisfied with the performance of the girls, although there is room for improvement in tactics," said Wang Haiming, coach of Chinese women's junior team. "And I am confident that we can do better in the following games."

In other actions of the opening day, Germany whitewashed host Thailand 6-0 in Bangkok before Brazil defeated Italy 2-1 in Chiang Mai.

Slated from Nov. 10-27, the championship features 12 teams in three groups, playing in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket respectively.