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OCEANIA-OFC NEWS

February 24, 2004 Fun and games as Australia and China battle to a draw Australia 0 China 0 By Jeremy Ruane The night's other match saw Australia and China battle out a scoreless draw, with battle being the operative word at times in a match which saw six players booked. The highlight of the first half action saw Katie Gill hit the crossbar for the home team in the seventeenth minute, but the second half saw fun and games galore. On the hour, Joanne Peters was felled in the penalty area, and duly stepped up to take the spot-kick. Chinese goalkeeper Weng Xiaojie produced a fine save low to her right to turn the ball round the post for a corner, but local referee Krystyna Szokolai ruled that Chinese defenders had encroached in the penalty area, so the spot-kick must be retaken. To say China were livid with this decision is an understatement - their coaching staff beckoned the players to the bench, and they duly walked off the pitch in protest, adding another chapter to the history of incidents between these countries, particularly when the clashes have taken place in Australia with local match officials in charge. After some hasty negotiating, play continued, with Selin Kuralay this time lining up to take the penalty. Her shot beat Weng but hit the insides of both posts before rebounding out to the penalty-taker, who duly thrashed the ball home, only for her strike to be ruled out, as no Chinese player had touched the ball in between times!! Not long afterwards, another Chinese infringement saw the red-shirted players surrounding referee Szokolai, in much the same manner Manchester United players did in a Premier League game a couple of years ago. The only difference between that incident and this was a couple of the Chinese players pushed the official away as they vented their anger. Had Szokolai wielded the red card to Wang Kun and captain Hou Iijia for their actions, no-one would have been surprised - and given their earlier protest march, it is highly likely China would have repeated their actions as a consequence. It was very much a catch-22 situation for the referee, one which this writer considers she handled as well as she could in very trying circumstances. The final whistle saw the Chinese players being loudly booed by the parochial Australian crowd, who at least went home having seen two full games of football on the final night of the Australia Cup competition, which was deservedly won by what was by far the best team at the tournament, North Korea.