SYDNEY, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion China began its 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Bangladesh here on Tuesday night.
China's Steel Roses scored twice at the end of the first half to take control of the match at Western Sydney Stadium after being denied earlier breakthroughs by a resolute Bangladesh defense.
Wang Shuang, who was on Monday named the Chinese Women's Footballer of the Year for the fifth time, was the China's most threatening player throughout the first half and provided the opening goal in the 44th minute when she placed a long range strike into the top left corner of the goal.
The advantage was doubled two minutes later when Zhang Rui's strike from the edge of the penalty area was deflected into the bottom left corner.
The Chinese women continued to create clear goal scoring opportunities through the second half, but could not find a third goal, with Bangladesh goalkeeper Mile Akter making several critical saves.
Bangladesh, who are playing at the Women's Asian Cup for the first time, had their own best opportunity of the night in the 14th minute when Ritu Porna Chakma's long range shot from the left wing forced Chinese goalkeeper Chen Chen to make a one-handed save while tracking back towards goal.
Ranked 17th in the world against Bangladesh's 112th, Wang said the team might be a bit "rushed" and "nervous" in its first match of the tournament.
"I had three really good chances earlier. Instead, it was the fourth one - from a tight angle - where I chipped it in with my right foot," the 31-year-old told reporters in the mixed zone.
"I think wanting to win so badly actually made me a bit rushed," she said. "We've trained for such a long time, and this was our first match, so of course everyone really wanted to win."
"We'll review the game carefully and work on how to better convert those scoring chances in the final third," she added.
China head coach Ante Milicic said his team "just looked a little bit nervous" and "didn't control the game as much as I would have liked, especially with the training we had."
"Maybe that's also to be expected with the first game of the tournament and the crowd," Milicic told the post-match media conference. "We've got a lot of players in the lineup today. They haven't got a lot of international experience. A couple of them may be the debuts."
"So all in all, it's a win. It's a clean sheet. We move on to the next one, and we know as a group that we can perform better for sure," he said.
The win against Bangladesh extends the Steel Roses' record of having never lost their opening match at a Women's Asian Cup and leaves China in second place in Group B behind DPR Korea, who beat Uzbekistan 3-0 earlier on Tuesday.
China will play their second group stage match against Uzbekistan at Western Sydney Stadium on Friday night, while Bangladesh will take on DPR Korea on Friday afternoon. ■
