“I usually have a smoke after a game. It’s an old habit,” said China coach Ma Liangxing when FIFAworldcup.com caught up with him at the Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. The last time the two met, the Steel Roses stomped Ghana 7-0, so the 1-0 win in China’s first group match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 was a bit of a surprise for many spectators. Yet Ma played down the significance of the score line.

“The most important thing is that we won,” said the coach. “We still got our three points, and the players gained valuable experience that will help a lot in later games,” he said, casually drawing on that cigarette.

FIFAworldcup.com: Coach Ma, many people are curious about your strategies in fielding players. First you take long-time forward Bai Jie and put her back into her old position at left fullback, then in the second half you move her back up to forward alongside Sun Wen again. What was your thinking?

Ma Liangxing: “That was an on-the-spot decision. Pan Lina got injured just after the start, throwing a wrench into our whole midfield. Pan Lina and Liu Ying play together best in midfield, and Pu Wei and Liu Ying don’t work together quite as well. So I decided to send Liu Yali to left back and moved Bai Jie back up front.”

And what did you think of Ghana’s performance?

Ghana are individually as good as or even better than Australia or Russia, and they played a focused defensive game that worked well against us. Moving Bai Jie up front was the only way to finally give us a chance to confuse them a little and create a few opportunities.

What do you think about the possibility of facing Germany or Canada in the quarter-final?

Let’s not talk about that just yet. Right now we’re concentrating on the group, just playing one game at a time.

What do you say to people who feel that you have been too cautious?

A lot of countries have improved considerably over the last few years, and everyone’s abilities are pretty close now, so each game is hard-fought. Winning is the most important thing.

What are your thoughts about the upcoming match against Australia?

Australia shouldn’t have any surprises in store for us. We just played a warm-up against them, and I don’t think they’ve changed much since then … They play a solid all-around game and their teamwork is better than Russia’s. Of the two teams I’d have to say Australia have the advantage. Russia’s defence is stronger than their attack.”

What are your other thoughts about the matches you have seen?

From the games so far, the United States still seem to be the clear favourite. Their performance was head and shoulders above the other teams … They have an ‘unconquerable’ winning spirit.

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