ALBUFEIRA, Portugal, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women's footballers Wang Shanshan and Liu Shanshan hope to move beyond the quarterfinals that they registered four years ago at the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup in France.
Prior to Saturday's practice session, Wang told Xinhua, "We need to go step by step (at the World Cup), and fight for a spot in the knockout stage. After that, we hope to better the record four years ago."
China made into the World Cup quarterfinals in 2015 before losing to eventual winners United States 1-0.
"We want to display ourselves at the World Cup, and show everything that we've trained and learnt over the past year at this stage," said defender Liu.
China conceded a 3-1 defeat to Norway, sitting two places above them at the FIFA World Rankings, in Friday's debut at the 2019 Algarve Cup women's soccer invitational tournament.
Following a terrible first half plagued by defensive errors, Wang got one back for China, already three goals down, on the stroke of stoppage time.
"We failed to convert our chances. After all, every opponent at this tournament is difficult to beat. We need to spare no effort for the victory," Wang pointed out.
"We didn't carry out our plan well yesterday. We came into the match quite late. We had a better second half than the first," said Liu.
China will face Denmark, also from north Europe resembling Norway in style of play, for group runner-up on Monday.
"The coach will lay out detailed tactics according to opponents' style. We need to fully make the most of our characters in restraining them," commented Liu, adding that loss to Norway still helps the team better prepare for the World Cup in less than 100 days to go.
China will take on Germany, South Africa and Spain in group matches at the quadrennial footballing event to kick off on June 7.
"We will face European and African opponents at the World Cup. Facing different opponents here will pave a path for our World Cup preparation," said Liu.
"Every match offers a chance for us to learn. After all, we don't play against European teams so regularly," echoed Wang.
