WUHAN - China coach Gao Rongming insists the hosts do not feel under any extra pressure to wipe away the memory of two years ago and win the AFC U-19 Women's Championship on home soil.
China were outclassed by eventual champions DPR Korea in the semi-finals of the 2007 tournament staged in Chongqing and ultimately finished third after they edged out Korea Republic in a play-off.
With the championships being held in the country for the third time in the last four editions, China would love to finally lift the trophy in front of their own fans and add to their solitary success in 2006.
And Gao feels that can spur his team on to greater heights over the next 12 days.
“This is a very big championship so it's not only the hosts but every team that is under pressure,” he said.
“But on the other hand, the pressure is also our motivation.
“The AFC U-19 Championships is one of the top competitions at this level in the world so it is a very good opportunity for us to develop our team.”
While DPR Korea will start as favourites having reached the final of the under 20 World Cup last year, Gao believes there are a number of sides in the hunt.
“At this level there are four or five teams capable of winning and we can't say our rival comes from any one particular team, among these teams anything can happen,” he stressed.
China begin their Group B campaign against Chinese Taipei at Hankou Sports Culture Stadium in Wuhan on Saturday but Gao revealed Lou Jiahui is doubtful for the clash.
“She has been training with the team and her recovery is good so far but I cannot tell you until tomorrow whether she will be able to play or not,” he added.
The group's other game sees Japan take on Australia with Young Matildas boss Alen Stajcic under no illusions about the size of the task his side – who lost 3-1 in a friendly to Korea Republic in Seoul on Monday - face.
“Japan are an excellent team, we watched them in the U-17s World Cup last year and they were fantastic, they were unlucky to lose in the quarter-finals to DPR Korea,” he said.
“DPR Korea won that tournament so they're world champions, China's been in two world youth cup finals so we know the opposition are fantastic.
“Korea Republic were fantastic technically too so we know the big four or five countries are good. We also played Thailand and Chinese Taipei last year and they've improved rapidly over the last two or three years so there's no real easy teams.
“We know this is the strongest confederation in the world in women's football. We know it's going to be tough.”
Stajcic also underlined his immediate objective is to reach the FIFA U-20 World Cup with the finalists and the winner of the third-placed play-off in this competition guaranteed a berth.
“The goal is to qualify for the World Cup, whether it's first second or third we'll take anything and if we play well and do well in all the games, we'll be extra happy,” he added.
Japan coach Norio Sasaki, meanwhile, believes their 1-0 victory over Australia in the group stage in 2007 will count for nothing this time around.
“In the last competition we beat Australia but they are powerful this time and we will do our best,” he said.
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