Winning Asian Cup can set China on new path, says coach Shui

Women's Asian Cup-winning coach Shui Qingxia believes China's first continental title in 14 years could put her side on the path to reclaiming its status among football's elite.

China won the trophy for the first time since 2006 on Sunday with a 3-2 victory over South Korea in Navi Mumbai, with the Steel Roses scoring three times in the final quarter of the game to claim a record-extending ninth Asian title.

"Winning this Women's Asian Cup means a lot to the team," said Shui. "It will guide us along a new road and we have a new direction now.

"We have a new goal which needs everybody's effort, not just technically and tactically but philosophically and mentally we need to get more prepared and we need to move forward to a new path ahead."

Shui will lead the team to next year's Women's World Cup after securing qualification at the Asian Cup and the 55-year-old has first-hand experience of China's previous preeminence within the Asian game.

The former midfielder featured in five of the squads that won the Asian Cup during a run of seven successive victories from 1986 to 1999 and was also in the side that won the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics.

In the last two decades, though, China have fallen short of those standards, winning just one additional Asian Cup in 2006 until the victory over the South Koreans on Sunday.

"It's quite a different feeling to win the title as a head coach and as a player, the role is different," said Shui.

"When I was a player I didn't pay attention to the mental side, I just got prepared physically. But as head coach I have to be a role model."

(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Robert Birsel)