China beats Nigeria 1-0 in World Cup warm-up
( 2003-08-23 14:02) (Xinhua)
A controversial goal from striker Bai Jie gave China a 1-0 victory over
Nigeria in a World Cup warm-up game in Taian, Eastern China's Shangdong
Province on Friday.
Striker
Bai Jie fights for the ball with Nigerian players in a World Cup warm-up
game on Friday. Bai's controversial goal led to China's 1-0 victory.
[Xinhua] | The goal came in the 65th minute when
the 32-year-old Bai beat Nigeria's offside trap and scored the winner from a
blank-point distance.
The goal left Nigerian players furious and they
protested that Bai had handled the ball before scoring. The play was halted for
four minutes before being resumed.
The head coach of Niegeria Sam
Okpodu said his players'reactionover the goal was normal. "In a high level game,
a goal can make big difference. My players did not want to lose the game because
of such a goal. They gave up the play wanting to make sure if it is a handball,"
he said.
The skipper of China Sun Wen, who squandered some chances in
the game, said the waterlogged pitch affected her performance. "Itrained heavily
before the game and the surface is rather slippery.It is rather difficult for me
to make goals."
Sun's view was echoed by China's head coach Ma
Liangxing. He said,"The waterlogged pitch affected both teams' performance. I
amvery happy that my team won this tough match. You can see my team is
progressing and this will give us more confidence before the World Cup
tournament kicks off."
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