7月30日，在澳大利亚阿德莱德举行的第15届女足亚洲杯决赛中，中国女足通过点球大战以6比4战胜东道主澳大利亚队捧杯。这也是时隔七年之后，中国女足重登亚洲最高的领奖台。虽然在上半场比赛中，澳大利亚以两球暂时领先，但落后的中国女足及时调整心态，在下半场凭借韩端和马晓旭的两个精彩入球将比分追平。加时赛结束，双方仍然不分上下。点球大战中，替补出场的小将张艳茹表现神勇，扑出澳大利亚队两个点球，帮助中国女足赢得最后的胜利。

China's soccer players throw their coach Ma Liangxing up in the air as they celebrate their win over Australia in their Women's Asian Cup final soccer match in Adelaide July 30, 2006. [Reuters] China came from behind to beat Australia on penalties, winning their eighth AFC women's Asian Cup yesterday.  The victory marks the nation's return to winning ways after semi-final and final defeats to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 2001 and 2003. With a fast attacking flow in the second half, China came from behind to neutralize a two-goal deficit through Han Duan (68) and Ma Xiaoxu (73), who was named Most Valuable Player, forcing the match into extra-time after Caitlin Munoz had scored the first goal for Tom Sermanni's side on 28 minutes and Peters made it 2-0 on 33 minutes. China replaced goalkeepers with Zhang Yanru coming off the substitutes' bench at the end of extra time, displacing starting goalkeeper Han Wenxia. The substitution proved decisive with Zhang saving two penalties from Collette McCallum and Joanne Peters while China converted all their attempts to win 4-2 on penalties. "I am so excited to be a part of the success like this," said Zhang. "I can feel the support from my team-mates and coaches. It's a hard-gained win for all of us and this is what we've been expecting for many years." Head coach Ma Liangxing echoed Zhang's words, saying the long-awaited trophy would inspire the players of the future. "I can't believe we came back from two goals down but I never lost confidence in my players," he said. "This victory will be very important in increasing the confidence of my players. It will be very positive in the long run." Australia won the last penalty shoot-out between the two countries, 5-4 in Shanghai in 2000. Before the final, Australia had played China 26 times coming away as the losing side 16 times, with seven games ending in a draw. The last two clashes between the two, as recently as last month, ended in China's favour. Australia, playing in their first Asian Cup final since joining the Asian confederation on January 1, looked on target to win the tournament with first-half goals through when Caitlin Munoz (29th minute) and Peters (33rd minute). China as hosts and finalists and Australia have already booked their berths in next year's FIFA World Cup with the DPRK joining them after beating Japan 3-2 in the play-off for third place earlier yesterday. (China Daily)

Vocabulary:

penalty: 点球 extra-time: 加时赛 substitutes' bench: 替补 penalty shoot-out: 点球大战 draw: 平局 （英语点津陈蓓编辑）