Seven-time champions China commenced their title pursuit at the 15th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Asian Cup 2006 today as they defeated first group opponents Chinese Taipei 2-0 in Adelaide, Australia.

In the first half, China's Dalian strike duo of Han Duan and Ma Xiaoxu set the attacking pace. They found their rhythm early and had the ball in the net as early as the 11th minute when Han headed to score from a Bi Yan free kick in the front field.

Chinese Taipei could have tied the game in the 33rd minute when Li Mingshu navigated into China's penalty area, but she missed the final shot.

The early part of second half saw a more balanced play from the two teams until the 65th minute when Chinese Taipei's goalie Huang Fengqiu didn't fend off a corner kick to the front of the line, which left China's Pu Wei to clear to score the decider.

The Chinese women's team has won seven times in a row from 1987 to 1999. After grabbing the silver medal at the inaugural Women's Olympic Football Tournament in Atlanta, the US, in 1996, the ladies reached their zenith in 1999 by finishing runners-up at the FIFA Women's World Cup in the US.

However, the team's performance has declined rapidly since then due to a lack of new talent and the retirement of several key players. Things hit rock bottom in 2004 when they were crushed by 2003 World Cup winner Germany 8-0 and failed to advance from the group competition at the Athens Olympics.

This dismal state of affairs prompted a team reshuffle two years ago, with sights set on next year's World Cup and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Ma Liangxing, former head coach of the national team, returned to take charge again in March after Pei Encai stepped down from the post.

Ma was sacked by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) after China suffered an early 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Canada in the fourth World Cup in 2003 in the US.

In the Algarve Cup tournament in Portugal earlier this year, Ma led the Chinese team to a sixth-place standing with one win, one draw and two losses on aggregate, up one spot from 2005.
 
The nine teams competing in the Asian Cup tournament, which runs until July 30, are China, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Vietnam (Group A); and Australia, South Korea, North Korea, Thailand and Myanmar (Group B).

Hosts Australia dominated the Group B match-ups after commanding victories over South Korea (4-0) on Sunday, and Myanmar (2-0) yesterday.

Commenting on the performance of the Australians, who are competing in the tournament for the first time, Ma Liangxing said: "I didn't expect Australia could win so comfortably with such a big score difference. China has one more arch rival now."

The other team that will be giving China a good run for their money is defending champion, North Korea, who won the Asian Cup in 2001 and 2003. 

The Women's Asian Cup is the premier competition for AFC teams. The competition was previously known as the AFC Women's Championship. It was established in 1975 by the Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC), then a part of the AFC responsible for the women's game but later amalgamated into the parent body.

The event was held every two years from the 1980s until the AFC recently decided to make it a quadrennial competition, like the men's tournament. The next Women's Asian Cup will be held in 2010.

The tournament serves as the qualifiers for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. The top two teams will have two spots reserved for them in that competition, in addition to hosts China. The team that finishes third will have a chance to qualify by playing against the third place finisher in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association of Football (CONCACAF) league.

History of AFC Women's Asian Cup finals

1975 New Zealand 3 - 1 Thailand 
1977 Chinese Taipei 3 - 1 Thailand 
1979 Thailand 2 - 0 India 
1981 Chinese Taipei 5 - 0 Thailand 
1983 Thailand 3 - 0 India 
1986 China 2 - 0 Japan 
1989 China 1 - 0 Chinese Taipei 
1991 China 5 - 0 Japan 
1993 China 3 - 0 North Korea 
1995 China 2 - 0 Japan 
1997 China 2 - 0 North Korea 
1999 China 3 - 0 Chinese Taipei 
2001 North Korea 2 - 0 Japan 
2003 North Korea 2 - 1 China 

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, July 19, 2006)