QINHUANGDAO: China's women's soccer head coach Shang Ruihua vowed Thursday that his team would make it back to Beijing for the semifinal stage of the Olympic tournament.

China beat its last group rival Argentina 2-0 on Tuesday to secure a quarterfinal match with Asian counterpart Japan here today.

Shang, who is widely recognized as one of the best domestic women's soccer coaches and helmed the Chinese women's team between 1988 and 1991, did not hide his ambition for a victory over Japan, a fast-improving opponent that has beaten China several times in the past few years.

Zhang Ying of China kicks the ball close to the head of Argentina's Mendieta Emilia during their women's first round Group E soccer match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Qinhuangdao August 12, 2008. [Agencies]

"I want to take my team to Beijing," Shang said simply.

A win over Japan would likely set up a dream semifinal clash with the US, which defeated China in the gold-medal game at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 1999 World Cup.

China had an opening win over Sweden and then drew against Canada before its triumph over Argentina.

For Shang, there is no secret to defeating Japan - the team just needs to play 100 percent like it has for the past three matches.

"How will we play against Japan in the quarterfinal match? Nothing special, just fighting with all our strength!" Shang told China Daily, noting that Japan is a very good team with nice skills, tactics and team work.

"The Japanese team is strong and it will be quite hard for us to beat them. Although we did beat them at the Women's Asian Cup this year, Japan's big 5-1 victory against Norway in the final group match proved Japan's capability," Shang said.

"If we want to win, we need to have better control in the midfield."

Shang even found time to take some digs at the Chinese men's team, saying he would like to lend his two strikers to the disappointing squad, which has already been knocked out of its Olympic group stage.

The team did not win a single game - it drew against New Zealand 1-1, lost to Belgium 2-0 and then 3-0 to title favorite Brazil.

"It's just a joke," he smiled. "Please do not exaggerate what I said."

In other quarterfinal action today, the US plays Canada in Shanghai, Brazil meets Norway in Tianjin and Sweden faces off against Germany in Shenyang.