China trounced by Sweden 3-0 at Algarve Cup group match

China's Zhang Rui, left, fights for the ball with a Swedish player in Santo Antonio, Portugal, March 10, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

SANTO ANTONIO, Portugal - Four-time Algarve Cup winners Sweden eased past their final Group A rivals China 3-0 on Monday with three first-half goals at the annual women's soccer invitational tournament.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Kosovare Asllani opened scoring for the world No 5 in as early as the fourth minute after a group effort in front of the Chinese goalmouth sliced open the space for goal.

The Nodic side's skipper Lotta Schelin enlarged the lead on 32 minutes with a penalty kick after midfielder Hanna Folkesson was tackled down at the right edge of the area while trying to break through a defence of five Chinese players.

Just seven minutes later, Sofia Jakobsson tabbed in a corner kick from Elin Rubensson, adding the third goal for Sweden making advantage of an error from China's goalie Wang Fei.

Throughout the game, China were tied with Sweden on seven shoots each, but 5-10 on corner kicks and 5-1 on free kicks.

"I'm not satisfied with the result but my players have given all out with quicker paces in attacking and having created more chances than the previous two games," commented the Chinese head coach Hao Wei after the match.

"It's just a warmup tournament and we still get chance to improve on tactics," he added.

The Swedish boss Pia Sundhage was obviously happy with the three-goal victory, though she admitted that her players failed to live up to her expectations in the second half.

"I'd be happier if we'd done better in the second half," she said. "The Chinese team is a technical one with many new players, who made some trouble for us, especially in the opening minutes."

The victory lifts Sweden to the top of Group A on six points, beating Germany to the second place on goal differences.