China hoping for Olympian feats at Women's World Cup

BEIJING, Sep 7 (Reuters) With partisan crowds, a Swedish coach and the ''female Wayne Rooney'' on their side, China is hoping for Women's World Cup glory on home soil over the next few weeks as a fitting prelude to next year's Beijing Olympics.

The 16-team tournament kicks off on Monday, with defending champions Germany facing Argentina shortly after an opening ceremony at Shanghai's newly renovated Hongkou stadium.

Group matches will be played in five cities across China's vast expanse, including Tianjin, host to Olympic preliminaries in 2008.

For many Chinese, the tournament comes four years late. Set to host the 2003 edition, the rapid spread of the lethal SARS virus across China saw the World Cup switched to the United States months before kick-off.

With the wind taken out of their sales, much-fancied China -- dubbed the ''Steel Roses'' by an adoring public after finishing runners-up to the United States in 1999 -- wilted in America, succumbing to Canada in the quarter-finals.

Four years later, China has pinned its hopes on a golden-haired Swede and a stocky teenage prodigy to restore pride on home soil.

FEISTY PLAYER Marika Domanksi-Lyfors, who took unheralded Sweden to the World Cup final in 2003, was appointed coach in March, and given five months to galvanise a team suffering is worst form in years.

Much of eleventh-ranked China's prospects will hinge on 19-year-old striker, Ma Xiaoxu, dubbed the ''female Wayne Rooney''.

The feisty Young Asian Player of the Year's explosive runs and eye for a goal are seen as crucial for China to advance beyond group matches featuring Brazil and in-form Denmark.

For Chinese organisers, perhaps more important than a crowd-pleasing display, is a smoothly-run tournament.

As the last major international event before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, local authorities have taken pains to renovate venues, recruit hundreds of volunteers and draft nearly 2,000 performers for an opening ceremony spectacular at Shanghai's Hongkou stadium on Monday night.

STRENGTH AND BEAUTY ''Visitors will see many soccer balls and roses during the ceremony, which reflects the combination of strength and beauty,'' opening ceremony organiser, Teng Junjie, told local media.

Visitors may also experience a touch of political intrigue in a tournament which has war-time foes facing off and the threat of nationalism spilling onto the pitch.

China requested FIFA re-schedule a group match between Japan and Germany ''given the historical background'' and ''the security considerations'' of holding it on Sept. 18 -- the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident, when Japanese troops began occupying northeast China.

September 11, a day that stirs emotions for many Americans, will also see the United States pitted against North Korea, a country China supported with thousands of soldiers during the 1950-1953 Korean War -- known in Chinese as the ''War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea''.

The 2007 Women's World Cup will also feature matches in Wuhan, Chengdu and Hangzhou before the final in Shanghai on September 30.

REUTERS SSC KN1908