By Sportswriters Xiao Yazhuo, Lin Xiaowei
AMMAN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- With two easy wins, China breezed into the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2018 semifinals here on Monday and secured a berth in next year's FIFA Women's World Cup in France.
"We are proud to have qualified for the World Cup 2019 and to be the first Asian team to do so," China coach Sigurdur Ragnar Eyjolfsson from Iceland told Xinhua in an exclusive interview after his team's 3-0 victory over the Philippines.
"We had set our target before we came here, and our players are clear about that. We are an ambitious team, and we want to go further," Eyjolfsson said.
Eyjolfsson, 44, took the reins of the "Steel Roses", the nickname of the Chinese women's national soccer team since 1999, last November, replacing Frenchman Bruno Bini to become the fourth foreign coach in China's women's soccer history.
"I am very excited and, particularly, I am deeply honored that the Chinese football Association (CFA) offered me this job. It is the greatest honor you can have as a coach to manage a national team and this is my second time," Eyjolfsson once said to media last year.
During his tenure as Iceland women's team manager between 2006 and 2013, Eyjolfsson became the first coach to lead the nation to the UEFA Women's Championship finals in 2009 and repeat the success in 2013. In 2011, he guided Iceland to go all the way to the Algarve Cup final where they were edged by USA.
Before directing the Chinese national team, the Icelandic tactician had served as the head coach of the Jiangsu FC women's team for over half a year.
During the first couple of months as the Chinese national team boss, Eyjolfsson was alongside with doubts and distrust, especially when the team finished second to last with only one win at the Algarve Cup in March.
"Being the head coach of the Chinese national team is also a big challenge for me. If everyone is talking about the team, it's good because at least it means the fans care about the team. My job is to make up a team with good players and guide them to perform well in big tournaments," Eyjolfsson said.
The changes emerged at the Asian Cup.
One month ago, star goalkeeper Zhao Lina and veteran striker Gu Yasha seemed have little chance of appearing at the Asian Cup, but both were part of the side when they came to Jordan.
Eyjolfsson revealed that he took the duo to the tournament because he wanted to include players with experience.
"Going into a big tournament you want to have goalkeepers and players with experience. They are familiar with the teammates and they have no problem adapting to the team," he said.
A comfort 4-0 win in the opening match against Thailand, and then another sweet 3-0 victory over the Philippines, the record eight-time Asian champions showed absolute dominance in the Group A actions.
But for Eyjolfsson and his players, the real challenges would start from the knock-out stage.
The other title contenders, including world No. 6 Australia, defending champions Japan, and South Korea were in Group B.
"It is really difficult to predict that which teams can survive in the other group, all the three teams are tough to play. We should get prepared for any possible rivals in the semifinals," Ejyolfsson said.
