体坛英语新闻：China draw 1-1 with Germany at U-17 Women's World Cup

BAKU, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- China were held to a 1-1 draw against Germany Wednesday at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup here in the second round of Group D matches.

After seven minutes, China's Zhang Chen created the first dangerous moment for the German defense with a mazy run into the box, but her efforts were eventually halted by the lunging Lena Luckel.

The Chinese had to wait until the 12th minute to get the game's opening goal. Miao Siwen picked up a fine pass from Li Mengwen before hammering a powerful shot from 20 yards into the top corner.

The half finished with a high tempo which bled straight into the second period, with China making the more impressive headway.

The introduction of striker Venus El-Kassem with 15 minutes to go improved Germany's attacks, forcing Chinese goalkeeper Fei Fei into a save, but was taken off soon after injury. This saw replacement Kiessling step up to the plate and nod home a free- kick with 94 minutes on the clock to save a point.

Germany's coach Anouschka Bernhard said after the match: "We are very happy with this result. In the second half we put a lot of effort towards finding an equalizer and finally were rewarded at the end of the game. China, as we expected, were a strong opponent and they played very well."

Ghana cruised to a 5-0 win over Uruguay at Baku's Bayil Stadium. Ghana will now be hoping for a positive result from their final game against China on Sunday to ensure their progression to the last eight.

Japan took a decisive step towards qualifying for knockout in Group C, with a 3-0 winning over New Zealand moving them to within a point of the quarterfinals.

Brazil left themselves with a strong chance of reaching the knockout phase by scoring the only goal in a play against Mexico.

The 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was inaugurated last weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan, with a brief ceremony featuring US singer Jennifer Lopez and Cirque de Soleil from Canada. The championship involving 16 countries ends on Oct. 13.