Liu announces her return to the top flight as China crush Vietnam

Japan and China opened their campaigns at the AFC Women's Championship in Thailand with convincing victories. China, the superpower in Asia from the mid-1990s until the turn of the century, defeated Vietnam 6-0 in Nakhon Sawan, while Japan thrashed the Philippines 15-0 in Bangkok.

China's result is probably the more impressive, against a Vietnam side who have acquitted themselves well at this level for some time. Teng Wei scored twice and the legendary Sun Wen found the target in between as the seven-time Asian champions took a 3-0 half-time lead. Liu Ying announced her return to international competition after a three-year battle against injuries, scoring twice in the second half, while 19-year-old Han Duan rounded off the scoring.

Japan, the beaten finalists in the last edition of the tournament in 2001, routed the Philippines in Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium. Striker Mio Otani had a field day scoring seven goals, while eight others got on the scoresheet.

Today Hong Kong, who were beaten 8-0 by South Korea in their opening game, have the unenviable task of taking on the current queens of the Asian game, North Korea, in the Thai capital.

The reigning champions and 2002 Asian Games gold medallists have dethroned China as the best team on the continent, and are likely to show little mercy as they attempt to secure a place at the World Cup finals in the United States in September and October.

'I'm going to ask them to try and defend because we know we can't compete with them,' said the Hong Kong coach, former men's international Chan Kwok-fai. 'Even before the tournament started I told my players to just try and learn, as we knew both the Korean teams would try and score as many goals against us as possible. I've asked my players to be more aggressive and to pay more attention to the long ball especially, because both the Korean teams are taller and stronger than us.'