China's Wang Shanshan (R) shoots during the women's football match between South Korea and China at the EAFF E-1 football championship in Chiba, Japan, Dec. 15, 2017. China won by 3-1. (Xinhua/Hua Yi)
China took the third place in women's tournament of the 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship after beating South Korea 3-1 on Friday.
After Wang Shanshan opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a back-heel kick, Zhang Rui doubled the lead in the 35th minute as the ball bounced in after hitting a defense player and changing direction.
In the second half, South Korea played more offensive and pulled back a goal in the 85th minute. But China managed to widen the gap to 3-1 in the 90th minute with a spectacular strike of Ren Guixin.
"I think we played very well today," said China's new head coach Sigurour Ragnar Eyjolfsson, adding the team attacked well and was solid in defense.
"We scored three goals. I think the fourth one should have been a goal. We had some good opportunities on top of that," he said.
This was China's first win since Eyjolfsson took over as head coach last month, following losses to Australia twice in friendly and to DPR Korea and Japan here in the tournament.
"We only played stronger opponents in all the matches leading to this one, higher-ranked opponents," said Eyjolfsson, adding that he was happy about the improvement of his team.
"We used this tournament to try to improve our team, to make some experience with players playing different positions. I think we got a lot of answers from this tournament," he said.
"I have been only with the team for over a month. It takes longer time to develop our playing style and find right players. So we have to be patient," said the Icelander.
South Korea took the fourth places after three losses.
"I want to apologize to our fans. Our opponents were all very strong. We tried our best. But we lagged behind in strength," said South Korea coach Yoon Duk-yeo.
He said his team showed a few weaknesses in the tournament and they will try to deal with the weaknesses and prepare for the Asian Cup.
The 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship is running in Tokyo and Chiba from Dec. 8-16.
Four countries - China, Japan, South Korea and DPR Korea - are competing in the championship.
Japan and DPR Korea, both with two wins, will fight for the championship title later in the final match for women.
