Jia taking nothing granted ahead of final showdown

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Jia Xiuquan, head coach of the Chinese women's football team, speaks to a Xinhua reporter at the Kunming training base in Kunming, China, on October 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)

They return to home soil holding a 2-1 aggregate lead, but China head coach Jia Xiuquan has urged his side to focus entirely on Tuesday's second leg of the Tokyo Olympic women's football qualifying playoff against Korea Republic.

Wang Shuang's winning penalty kick in Goyang City means the Steel Roses require only a draw at Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre to become the third and final AFC nation to secure their place in the final tournament, but Jia insists that his side must not be distracted by their advantageous hand.

"There's no secrets between the two teams after the first match, so the game will be more difficult." said Jia, a former men's international who became head coach in 2018.

"I hope the players can temporarily forget the previous victory and focus on the upcoming match. We need to give more effort. Unity and execution will be the key for the second leg."

Olympic regulars China have appeared in all but one of the women's football tournaments at the Games since they began in Atlanta in 1996, while Korea Republic are chasing a first ever appearance.

The weight of that history, plus China's successful trip to Goyang City, means Jia's side are now strong favourites to win what loomed as something of a 50-50 proposition prior to last Thursday's clash, but Jia is adamant the final Asian ticket to the Games is still very much up for grabs.

"I understand the expectation of the public on our team," he said. "But the most important thing is the preparation for the next match, I believe that a strong preparation will lead to good results.

"The team had recovery training after we returned to Suzhou and we also did a tactical analysis of the Korean team. I think the next match will be a contest of spirit and tactical details by both teams."

Jia's view that the tie remains in the balance is one shared by Korea Republic head coach Colin Bell, who said his charges were looking forward to the match but admitted they would need to deliver something approaching a "perfect game" in order to overturn the first leg deficit.

"We're looking forward to the game," said Bell. "I honestly believe that in the first game a draw would have been a fair result. China had the better start and went 1-0 up, but we came back very well.

"It hasn't got easier after the first game, but It's a two-legged affair and we believe in our ability. We hope to achieve our goal and qualify for the Olympics, nothing has changed in that respect."

While the first leg result wasn't in Korea Republic's favour, the team news ahead of the return match is.

Chinese captain Wu Haiyan is suspended for an accumulation of yellow cards, while her Korea Republic counterpart Cho So-hyun is expected to play after her last-minute arrival and subsequent lack of training time ruled her out of last Thursday's match.

Cho's inclusion would be a major boost for Bell, who was pleased with aspects of Korea Republic's performance last week, in what was their first official match in over a year, but re-affirmed his belief that his side are capable of much better, and urged them not to let the chance to reach one of the world's biggest events pass them by.

"We knew from the start it would be two very tough matches," said the former UEFA Women's Champions League winner

"We have been waiting over a year for these two games and don't want them to slip by without giving the best account of ourselves. The first half we weren't totally pleased with how we played. In the second half we controlled the game.

"China possess a very physically strong team, but we have good players as well."

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