Chinese Hit a Great Wall on Offense

It may have been the loneliest walk Chinese goalkeeper Gao Hong ever took.

A few yards away, the U.S. Women’s World Cup team was celebrating its victory over China in Saturday’s final, gained when Gao was unable to stop any of the five penalty kicks taken by the U.S. in the tiebreaking procedure. Farther away, near midfield, Gao’s teammates had gathered to commiserate over a loss in which they showed little of the flair or scoring prowess that previously had distinguished their game.

Only Gao walked alone under the merciless sun at the Rose Bowl, with the roars of the heavily U.S.-partisan crowd of 90,185 ringing in her ears. Finally, she trudged back to the center of the field, where she was enveloped in hugs from Sun Wen and Fan Yunjie before the remainder of her teammates followed suit.

“I can and can’t feel for her,” said U.S. goalkeeper Briana Scurry, who was one save better than Gao--a thin margin that separated champion from runner-up. “I’ve never been in her position in such a big situation like this. I saved one penalty kick before and lost it, but that was for third place in the Algarve Cup three years ago.

“She had a great tournament and handled shots very well. I have a tough time feeling sorry for her. She’s a great player and she has nothing to hang her head about.”

Like all but two of her teammates, Gao did not talk to reporters Saturday. It’s not clear if the weather, emotional duress or physical exhaustion influenced her decision to depart without discussing her pivotal role in China’s loss; any of those reasons alone was valid--Sun said the heat “feels like fire in my feet,”--but the combination may have been too much for the personable goalie to bear.

“The goalkeeper said the Americans mixed up the rhythm of their shots, the timing, the way they took their shots,” Sun said through a translator when asked about the penalty kicks. “Maybe they shot too quickly.”

Gao made four saves in regulation time and overtime Saturday and made 20 saves in six games. She faced 11 shots Saturday and 32 overall and gave up only two goals in regulation time in the tournament.

But if Gao wasn’t tested very much or very often Saturday, neither was Scurry. And that was the telling difference for China.

In marching to the final for the first time, China had capitalized on its outstanding speed on the wings and its exemplary technique to score 19 goals. The Chinese went forward relentlessly, sending midfielders up to support the attack. Little of that speed and creativity was evident Saturday, partly because the U.S. defense did a fine job on Sun and partly because China chose to play a conservative game and sat back much of the time instead of initiating attacks and pressuring the U.S. defense.

“Defense first, and then we do counterattacks,” Coach Ma Yuanan said through a translator. “Today both teams have great performances, and also I think the fans really wanted the Americans to be champions. We were prepared fully and our defense did a very good job today. Our offense also did a very good job. The American team was more fortunate than us. . . .

“Even though the American team is the winner today, the coach thinks our team, the Chinese team, is the best team in the world.”

Sun was credited with three shots but didn’t come close to scoring and she was far less of a catalyst Saturday than in previous games. “Today we are concentrating on defense first. When I touched the ball, I was pretty far from the goal,” Sun said. “The American team took care [of the defensive aspects] pretty well.

“If I get a chance, I will score. If I can touch the ball around the penalty box, I will score. . . . This is a championship game. Every team, including men’s soccer, will be more conservative in the finals. The stress also maybe will affect the players. The stress was there. After winning against Norway, everybody got very high expectations about the team. But the weather was very hot today and it was a factor. It was not the same as the Norway [semifinal] game, which was a night game.”

And although the outcome wasn’t the same, Sun claimed China was not devastated. “We did pretty well, actually,” she said. “We didn’t let them score in 120 minutes, and that’s a big success for us. We did our job and tried our best.”