Football: France escapes China during the last warm-up

CRETAIL, France: France won in its final warm-up for the Women's World Cup after beating China 2-1 in Créteil in the Paris suburbs.

France won without many of its usual starters, including captain Amandine Henry, striker Eugénie Le Sommer and third star Lyonnaise Amel Majri.

France opens its campaign against South Korea on June 7 and considers that China has similar problems.

China begins its campaign the next day against another European power, Germany.

France took the advantage after 30 minutes when striker Valerie Gauvin found himself in the right place after a Marion Torrent shot was blocked.

After that, the home team created few opportunities while China presented a tougher test than Thailand, which beat France 3-0 in its previous match.

Defender Wang Shanshan leveled after 52 minutes, set up by Paris Saint-Germain playmaker Wang Shuang

The best French striker, Kadidiatou Diani, left wing of PSG, saved the local team by an unstoppable shot six minutes later.

"We have responded well," said French coach Corinne Deacon.

"It's already better than last week," she said. "And I hope it's not as good as next week."

Henry added to the injury problems of France earlier in the day.

"It was a surprise for me too, I must admit that I could have spent this morning," said Deacon. "She's fine, she's better, she just closed it this morning when she woke up.

"Considering her way of walking, I think it would have been hard for her to run tonight."

The wounds of Henry, Le Sommer and Majri suggest that France could pay for Lyon's success by winning the Champions League.

"There are three Lyonnaises, a long season, women who have participated in all the competitions, we could have done without them, but now we are taking care of them."