Spurred on by their shock win over South American Cup runners-up Argentina, China under-20 national coach Shen Xiangfu believes his charges can claim their most famous scalp tonight in the Football of the Future final against Brazil at Hong Kong Stadium.
'We are confident of beating Brazil and we would not be here talking about it if we didn't feel that we had a chance. We can beat them,' said Shen, whose charges shocked Argentina 3-1 on Friday. 'I have no doubt in my mind that we can do the job but it is going to be harder against a country which has been so successful in world football.'
Shen was still on cloud nine after China stunned World Youth Cup finals hosts Argentina after coming back from a goal down to beat the South Americans with goals from Xu Liang, Zhang Yaokun and Qu Bo.
'We were a bit nervous in the first half against Argentina, but we settled down and played some good football in the second half. We never gave up even though we were down one goal down at the half.'
'I expect the boys to be a little more relaxed against Brazil and we will play virtually the same team that beat Argentina.'
But Shen said China would have to watch out for Brazil striker Julio Cesar Baptista who scored in Brazil's 2-2 draw against Japan in regulation time. Brazil went on to win the penalty shootout 3-1 even though Baptista missed his spot-kick.