¡¡¡¡PORTLAND, United States, Oct. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- China's World Cup trip was put to a heartbreaking end after they were condemned to a 1-0 surprise defeat by Canada in the quarter-finals at Portland's PGE Park on Thursday.

¡¡¡¡The Chinese women dominated the North Americans but their poor finish ability took its toll, sent home with only three goals fromfour matches.

¡¡¡¡The Steel Roses, whose beautiful passing game won the hearts of millions of American fans four years ago by finishing runners-up, proved they have already been past their prime.

¡¡¡¡Ma Liangxing's aging side might not have expected they could repeat the feat achieved four years ago, but they also could not expect they could be stopped at such an early stage.

¡¡¡¡China 'keeper Han Wenxia was forced to a full-stretched save inthe seventh minute by Canadian striker Christine Latham from closerange. With her shot tipped wide of the post by Han, Canada earned their first corner kick.

¡¡¡¡The corner proved precious afterwards and captain Charmaine Hooper headed it past a advancing Han into the back of the net.

¡¡¡¡The Steel Roses should have leveled the score one minute later,but Sun Wen's free kick from 20 meters skimmed the crossbar.

¡¡¡¡Bai Jie, who scored two goals in the group matches, was mobile on the right and close to scoring in the 14th minute. But her long-shot header went wide of the far post.

¡¡¡¡Two minutes later, Sun's beautifully-executed right-foot effortin the box was again inches wide of the post.

¡¡¡¡China, who scored only three goals in their previous three matches, continued to create chances but they just could not find the net.

¡¡¡¡Midfielder Zhao Lihong raced down from the left flank in the 24th minute but she could only arched her shot over Canadian 'keeper Taryn Swiatek's left-hand corner.

¡¡¡¡Youngster Bi Yan ran fantastically into the middle of Canada's defense but her long shot was gathered easily by Swiatek.

¡¡¡¡The Chinese took a 61 percent of possession in the first half, mostly in Canada's half, however, the scoreline remained at 1-0 after 45 minutes. They failed to create a clear cut chance either.

¡¡¡¡They continued to control the game, but it was more and more like heading for a defeat, although Ma replaced three of his starters with youngsters Zhang Ouying, Han Duan and Ren Liping.

¡¡¡¡The 30-year-old Sun Wen, Gold Ball and Gold Boot awards winner in the last World Cup, had several shot wide. She was just nearingher commitment that she will retire after the World Cup.

¡¡¡¡The Canadians, led by former World Cup winning coach Even Pellerud, began to sit back to defense before the whistle sounded.Enditem