China, Australia to vie for top Asian women's Olympic football qualification spot

SYDNEY - China will clash with hosts Australia on Thursday in their final group match to decide which side will finish top of Group B at the Asian women's Olympic football qualification tournament.

China and Australia, both with two wins from as many matches, have qualified for the final-round playoffs, where the top finishers of Group A and B will face the runners-up of the other group over two legs on a home and away basis in March.

Jia Xiuquan, head coach of Chinese side, said his players will try to cope with Australia, which he called a very strong team, in their own way.

"We trained for some time in Australia before, we are getting used to their playing style," he said.

Jia said his side's 5-0 win over Chinese Taipei on Monday not only secured a spot in the playoff but also won a breather for them.

"We have been through a lot of troubles in our preparation for the Olympic qualification, my players are not in their best forms," he said.

"The most important thing for us is we won the match and qualified for the playoff, and that also won us the time to adjust ourselves," he added.

The Chinese side were put in quarantine on their arrival in Brisbane, Australia until February 5 when a letter from the local health authority cleared them, leaving them only one day to fly to Sydney and prepare for their first group match against Thailand.

"My players were not sharp at controlling the ball during the match. How could they be sharp after almost ten days without touching a ball?" said Jia after his side's 6-1 win over Thailand last Wednesday.

The matches in Group B have been rescheduled twice due to the quarantine of the Chinese team.

Those matches were originally set to take place in Wuhan, China from February 3 to 9. Due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus in the city, the fixtures were initially moved to China's eastern city of Nanjing, before being moved again to Sydney, Australia.

Four Chinese players, including former Paris Saint-Germain striker Wang Shuang, were stranded back in the epidemic center Wuhan amid virus control concerns.

Wang was shown by a video released on Sunday to have trained alone on a building top.

When Wuhan was locked down to reduce the spread of the virus on January 23, she was staying with her family for Spring Festival holidays and could not get out to join the Chinese side.

If Wuhan is still being locked down next month when the Chinese women's team play in the playoff, there will be no way for the 25-year-old player to leave the city and return to the national team, a Chinese Football Association (CFA) source said.

The CFA tried in vain to get Wang out of Wuhan before the Chinese team flew to Australia on January 29, the source said.

South Korea finished first followed by Vietnam in Group A, which also featured Myanmar.