WUHAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women team head coach Jia Xiuquan praised Wang Shuang's second half performance in China's 4-1 rout over Russia here on Thursday in four-nation invitational and hopes the injury-haunted star striker to get fit for the summer's World Cup.
"Wang Shuang has made every effort she could during her 45 minutes on the field," Jia commented after the Chinese women's football team beat Russia in the evening to set up a final encounter with Cameroon, who won 2-1 over Croatia.
Jia, who took the rein of the "Steel Roses" from Sigurdur Ragnar Eyjolfsson last May, didn't start the Paris Saint-German striker for the hosts' opening match at the invitational tourney, which is possibly the last international event for China en route to the France World Cup slated in June.
"It's both for the team's sake, tactically speaking, and for Wang Shuang's own good," he said. "She's not perfectly fit, as we all know, and physically tired since the jet log is hard to overcome."
"I think what I've decided is to get her better protected," added the former head coach of China's men's under-19 side who'd never managed a women's team before taking over the national squad.
Wang, the AFC's Female Player of the Year in 2018, came into the field right after the break and helped the hosts improve a lot in organizing attacks, including the vital corner kick leading to Wang Shanshan's 65-minute goal.
With no more than two months ahead of the women's football World Cup, Jia hopes Wang Shuang to get fit first.
"Wang Shuang is a good player, a good striker, but for a team, the most important thing is how the players cooperated with each other," he said. "I want Wang to be the scorer she usually is at the World Cup, but first of all, I want her to be fit enough for a 90-minute play."
The 2019 women's football World Cup will be held in nine cities of France from June 7 to July 7.
