Lotta Schelin scored a contraversial goal to give Sweden a 1-0 over China at the Algarve Cup women's football tournament on Monday.
The veteran striker fired the ball past China's goalkeeper Zhang Yanru in the 63rd minute on a solo run. Some Chinese defenders complained to the referee that Schelin was offside, but to no avail.
"I am not sure if she was offside, but all my four defenders said she was," said China head coach Li Xiaopeng.
Li was disappointed as China lost all their three group games.
"I am feeling as if I have been beating up," he said.
"My players need to learn how to read the game," he said. "They should know when to defend and when to attack. I mean when the Swedish players were tired, they should have stepped up the attack. And when Sweden regrouped, it turned out hard to beat them."
China, who lost to Denmark and Iceland in previous rounds, were more determined in attack.
In the 53rd minute, forward You Jia found herself with only Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl to beat. She tried a lob, only to see the ball flew over the bar.
China's best chance came in the 89th minute when substitute Xu Yuan's solo run was thwarted by Lindahl.
"China are at least as good as my team, they deserved a draw," said Sweden head coach Thomas Dennerby.
"The Chinese girls are physically inferior to my players, but they are more skillful. A draw should have been a fair result," he added.
