China's Wu Haiyan (L) and Tan Ruyin (C) competes for the ball against Australia's Kyah Simon. (Photo : Getty Images)
The Chinese women's national football team had formalized their qualification in the 2016 Summer Olympics after forcing Asian football giant Australia to a 1-1 draw during their final match in the 2015-16 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament held at the Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan on Wednesday.
With a win-loss-draw record of 3-0-2 and 11 points in the final standings, China PR placed second to Australia, who finished on top with 13 points and a 4-0-1 slate, in the said Olympic qualifiers.
The two national squads will now represent the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in this year's Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5 to 21.
Chinese striker Ma Xiaoxu opened the scoring right at the 16th minute of the game off a fancy assist from defender Liu Shanshan to give head coach Bruno Bini's Steel Roses the early lead in the game.
China looked on its way to win the highly-anticipated matchup as Australia was not able to answer with any goals for almost the rest of the game. However, the Matildas were able to equalize the count five minutes before the full time whistle with a goal from midfielder Emily van Egmond.
The win gave head coach Alen Stajcic's girls the top spot in the qualifiers. If the Steel Roses had won, they would be at first place and would have been the only undefeated team in the tournament.
Nonetheless, any result of the match will not matter when it comes to qualifying as the two squads have already booked their Olympic berths even before the game.
"This is the best game that we had in these days. We had hoped to go to Rio as No.1 of the group, but Australia played well today. We performed well. If we continue to perform well like that, everything would be good," Bini said, as per Xinhuanet.
Meanwhile, Stajcic said that his team could have "done better" as it is a "tough game", but acknowledged that the Matildas have "tried very hard" to win the match and stamp their class heading into the summer.
"I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to Australia and China for their outstanding performances throughout the tournament. Representing Asia is an honor and I am confident that both Australia and China will do Asia proud," said AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, via Goal.
