In tonight's duel, Chinese playmaker Zhang Rui sliced the rivals' defending line on the right and curled in a perfect cross which found Li Ying who came up to a cool finish, beating South African captain Janine van Wyk to the ball to prod past a stranded keeper Kaylin Swart in the 40th minute.

The 26-year-old Li, a World Cup debutant, was selected as Visa Player of the Match.

Li said, "It doesn't matter if I score, the most important thing is winning as a team."

The first goal of China in France emerged in their domination from the very beginning.

Paris Saint-German star Wang Shuang started for China for the first time in Parc des Princes, just next door to her club team's home Stade Jean Bouin, and was directly involved in at least three first-half attempts, though the 24-year-old seemed not having tried enough to go for goal.

With five minutes from the clock, Wang, who got off the bench in China's 1-0 loss to Germany last Saturday, launched a perfect free kick, but none of her teammates in front of the goal managed to have a touch on the ball.

One of the link-up corner kicks picked up Han Peng, and only see the 29-year-old midfielder's header blocked by South Africa's goalie Swart.

South Africa looked to pose a few threats to the former Asian powerhouses through counter-attacks, but the lack of accurate final touch cost them all the promising opportunities.

Banyana Banyana's best chance came through Thembi Kgatlana as the Africa's Player of the Year, who scored in the 3-1 defeat to Spain, burst into the box and fired into the side net.

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