Marika Domanski-Lyfors, head coach of China's national women's soccer team, told media on Wednesday that she is not afraid of the pressure at the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games, both of which will be played on home soil.

"First of all, I'm very proud to be the head coach of the Chinese team, and I also like the pressure," said the 47-year-old, who took over the Chinese team two months ago and signed a contract until 2008 with the Chinese Football Association (CFA). 

Under her reign, the home side beat Mexico 1-0 here on Wednesday after Sunday's 4-0 victory over Thailand to stay on top of the table at the 2007 International Women's Soccer Invitational Tournament. Concluding on July 10th, the tournament is co-hosted by Shenyang and Qinhuangdao, both of which are venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Soccer tournament.

As a warm-up event for September's World Cup, which takes place in five Chinese cities, the tournament was expected to give the team some morale-boosting victories.

The team's fortunes have slumped since the highs of the late 1990s, but coach Domanski feels her players have the ability to come out fighting.

"I have been involved in every World Cup since 1991, and also the Olympics. I think I can handle the pressure and for the team, I have confidence that they can handle it," said Domanski in a post-match press conference after Wednesday's 1-0 win over Mexico.

Domanski was head coach of Sweden and led the European side to the 2003 World Cup final where they lost to Germany. She stepped down in 2005 after nine years in charge, but now faces the challenge of achieving at least a semifinal place at the World Cup.

Her counterpart Leonardo Cuellar Rivera of Mexico sang the praises of the hosts and coach Domanski.

"China have some young players and they are all making remarkable progress. I respect my counterpart on the Chinese side, she's really successful in leading her team to play good soccer," he said.

Domanski said that the coaching staff was still testing the squad, but she knows an end-of-the-month deadline is looming large.

"I've tested different line-ups in last three matches (including the friendly against the United States in America last month), because we may need more than 11 players to play in the upcoming World Cup. If I used the same 11, there are more chances the players will get injured and I think that's dangerous," she said.

Commenting on the evening's game, Domanski said: "I think this was a very good game both technically and tactically. We knew it would be a tough game, since we played Mexico before and they are really very strong. And the game went almost this way."

China, with six points from two games, will play their last match against Italy on Saturday in Qinhuangdao. A top two finish on standings will give them a place in Tuesday's final.

Italy now follow China in the table with four points after drawing 2-2 with Mexico on Sunday and beating Thailand 5-0 Wednesday.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2007)