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Sports / Soccer
China calmly accept fixture change despite disadvantage
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-19 03:00
TIANJIN, China - FIFA Women's World Cup hosts China on Tuesday calmly
accepted the match schedule amendment caused by typhoon Wipha, which
gifted China's arch rival Denmark to have their last Group D game against
Brazil one day after the China-New Zealand duel.
Meng Hongtao, the media officer of the Chinese team, told Xinhua on
Tuesday night, "We accept the change and will play all out in the New
Zealand game, which is a do-or-die duel."
"According to FIFA regulations, the last round of group matches must be
played simultaneously to guarantee the fair play. But this time the
fixture is changed becuase of the force majeure. We obey the FIFA
decision and will concentrate on the match tomorrow," Meng noted.
Xue Li, the secretary general of the 2007 World Cup organizing committee,
told Xinhua on telephone that China had ever proposed to postpone all the
matches on Wednesday until Thursday but FIFA did not want to make such a
big change.
Xue, also the vice president of the Chinese Football Association,
said,"We made a delicate scheme for the match reschedule including all
the four matches in the last round of Group C and D. But FIFA wanted to
limit the changing area. Finally, only the fixtures of the two matches
were amended."
Based on the latest weather reports about the evolution of typhoon Wipha
and after having thoroughly and carefully assessed the situation with the
Local Organizing Committee and the relevant Chinese authorities, FIFA
decided to amend the match schedule as follows:
Match 21, Norway-Ghana will be played on September 20 (17:00 local time)
in Hangzhou (and not on September19 in Shanghai as originally scheduled).
Match 24, Brazil-Denmark will be played on September20 (20:00 local time)
in Hangzhou (and not on September19 as originally scheduled).
Matches 22 and 23 (Australia-Canada, 17:00, in Chengdu and China-New
Zealand, 20:00, in Tianjin respectively) remain unchanged.
In the trickiest group, Athens Olympic runners-up Brazil are topping the
rankings with two wins and a plus-nine goal difference. The title
favorites are 99 percent into the quarterfinals and only a heavy loss
(not likely) to Denamrk may change their fate.
China and Denmark, who lost 3-2 to the hosts but beat the Kiwis 2-0
later, are contesting the second qualifying berth. So far, the European
giant is ranked second with advantage in four goal difference.
If China can not earn a five-goal winning margin on Wednesday, the Danes
only need a 1-0 win over Brazil on Thursday to qualify.
New Zealand, who were whitewashed by Brazil 5-0, are almost packing and
their hope for survival is only in theory.
According to the latest FIFA women's rankings in June, Denmark stood at
sixth, Brazil at eighth, China 11th and New Zealand 23rd.
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