last-ditch china edge netherlands (fifa.com) 12 jun 2015
an injury-time winner from lisi wang gave china pr a deserved 1-0 win over netherlands at the fifa women's world cup canada 2015™ just as it looked like the europeans would hang on for an unlikely point.
the chinese comfortably dominated the possession and goalscoring statistics but were unable to give their noisy support a goal to celebrate until wang’s 91st minute intervention. the contest started in bright open fashion even if gilt-edged goalscoring chances were at a premium.
netherlands striker vivianne miedema had a rare though brief sight of goal midway through the half after latching onto a superb manon melis pass but the teenage starlet could only stab her shot wide under pressure. just as the oranje looked like they might be grabbing the ascendency, suddenly it was china looking more likely to break the deadlock.
the ever-dangerous peng han impressively danced into the box and her shot from 15 yards was pushed over the bar by sari van veenendaal. within two minutes guixin ren headed on goal from close range but could get no power, although the effort still needed a goalline catch from van veenendaal.
china dominated significant periods of the second half though the netherlands occasionally looked a chance to score in the latter stages with their always lively front-three. jiali tang had a great chance soon after the break after cutting in from the left inside the penalty area but she shot straight at van veenendaal who stood tall to push the ball away.
midway through the half tang let fly with a venomous shot from 25 yards which dipped onto the crossbar and bounced away to safety. substitute jun ma stabbed a close-range volley over the crossbar from close range following a sweet passing movement in what was arguably the best chance of the game. then lisi made something out of nothing by latching onto a long ball after ghosting in behind the defence to stab home for a deserved winner.
