“2003 will definitely be my last World Cup,” confessed the 31-year-old, adding that she is eagerly looking forward to her last tournament. After joining up with the national team at the beginning of August, she has been training hard ever since, “We’re focusing a lot on fitness at this stage. We have to run 10 kilometres almost every day, and then we play practice games. We’re totally exhausted by the end of the day,” she said.

Despite the hard work, she recently took time out to speak with FIFAworldcup.com about China’s opponents and her last FIFA Women’s World Cup.

FIFAworldcup.com: Who do you think heads into the FIFA World Cup as favourites?

Zhao Lihong: It’s hard to say which team has the best chance of winning. The skill levels of a lot of teams are pretty close … In terms of skill level, it would be hard to find a team that is better than China by any significant margin.

Are there any individual players that stand out for you?

As for individual players, I’d have to say our team has some of the most outstanding players in the game. There are good players on other national teams, but they tend to be better at only certain aspects of the game; no one really stands out head and shoulders above the rest.

What do you think of China’s up-and-coming players?

Younger players always have a learning period to go through. It was the same with like older players like me and Sun Wen. We all have to toughen ourselves through experience … and as the old ones retire, the younger ones gain experience to replace them.

What did you think of your time in the WUSA?

WUSA has a higher level of quality compared to our league in China. Of course, the US league is the only all professional women’s league in the world, so it naturally attracts the best international players. The U.S. league also excels at things like management, operations, promotion and other aspects, so we can learn a lot from their experience.

What are your thoughts about China’s draw? Many are saying it was fortunate.

Counting on a good group draw for easy points is not the way to win a championship. Even if your opponents in the group phase are a bit weaker, you can get caught by surprise if you’re not prepared … Scores are determined on the day. Of course technique and experience are important, but if your physical conditioning isn’t at its best, you may not be able to bring those skills into play. Before the 1999 World Cup, we played a warm-up game with Ghana that ended in a 2-2 tie. But at the World Cup itself, our strength in attack caught them off guard, and we won 7-0 … Even though we scored seven goals, Ghana could still have won. This is the importance of preparation and conditioning.

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