SAN JOSE, Calif. - Pu Wei and Jin Yan scored as China, one of the tournament favorites, beat Russia, 2-0, last night in the Women's World Cup.
China moved on to a semifinal match Sunday at Foxboro, Mass., against the winner of last night's late Sweden-Norway game.
The score wasn't indicative of the one-sided nature of the game, most of which was played in the Russian half of the field.
The Chinese peppered Russian goalkeeper Svetlana Petko with 24 shots and the Russians, surprise quarterfinalists in their first World Cup, got off only two shots while spending most of the time chasing Chinese attackers.
Russia's strongest attacker, Irina Grigorieva, who led the tournament going into the game with four assists, was stymied with defensive duty back in the penalty box.
Chinese midfielder Pu was the first to score, kicking a slow, bouncing shot from outside the penalty box late in the first half. Petko, perhaps exhausted from about a dozen earlier saves, reacted late and watched the ball slide past the tips of her gloves.
The baby of the Chinese team at 18, Pu fell to her knees, thrilled with her first World Cup goal, before jumping up in glee.
China scored again 10 minutes into the second half, when Jin knocked in the rebound of a shot that bounced off the post.
The Russian loss was not unexpected. The team was one of the surprises in the tournament, advancing from its group with victories over Japan and Canada.
Russia's defenders used an array of strong tactics to keep China from running up the score, pushing beyond the usual slide tackles and tight marking. In the 16th minute, Russian defender Natalia Karasseva was carried off the field on a stretcher after being cracked across the face diving to head a ball clear of the goal. She later returned to play.
Later in the first half, Tatiana Tcheverda was penalized with a yellow card when she batted the ball away with her hand.
