GROUP D: MATILDAS NEARLY WALTZ OFF WITH HUGE UPSET CHINA MUST RALLY TO SALVAGE WORLD CUP TIE WITH AUSTRALIA.

Byline: Fred J. Robledo Staff Writer

CARSON - With an inflated kangaroo providing good karma along the sideline bench, Australia, a team with only four professionals, nearly pulled off the greatest upset in the history of the Women's World Cup.

Entering the game against heavily favored China with a winless record all time in World Cup competition, Australia grabbed an early lead against the 1999 finalist and FIFA's fourth-ranked team.

But the Matildas couldn't hold on, instead settling for a 1-1 draw in front of 13,929 at Home Depot Center on Thursday.

The tie allowed Australia (0-1-1, 1 point) to keep alive its slim hopes of reaching the quarterfinals.

``We've spoken many times about the Australian never-say-die attitude,'' Aussie coach Adrian Santrac said. ``Our players gave everything they possible could. They gave everything right to the end. We couldn't ask for anything more.''

Aussie midfielder Cheryl Salisbury, who saved a first-half shot by China's Sun Wen by clearing it off the goal line, said the Matildas believed all along they could earn a positive result.

``We went into (Thursday) and knew it wasn't an impossible task,'' she said. ``Every player out there believed that we could win. We stuck to our game plan and we fought as hard as we could. In the end, 1-1 is how it stood.''

Australia will need a victory over Ghana (0-2-0) and Russia (2-0-0, 6 points) to beat China (1-0-1, 4 points) in the Group D round-robin finale Sunday in Portland, Ore., to have a chance of moving on.

With Russia already through to the next stage, Australia would need to beat Ghana by one more goal than Russia beats China in order to advance to the next round on goal differential.

All the Chinese need is a victory over Russia to win Group D, or a draw to advance as the second-place entry.

On Thursday, China found itself trailing in a World Cup match for the first time since the '99 opener against Sweden.

With China pressing, the Aussies took advantage of a quick counter as Danielle Small sent a through ball for Heather Garriock down the left flank.

With Chinese defender Fan Yunjie closing her down and goalkeeper Ghao Yan racing out to challenge, Small split the Chinese pair with a slicing left-footed shot that found the center of the net for a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.

In the 46th minute, China's Ouying Zhang sent a cross in for Jie Bae. This time, Salisbury coudn't clear the ball off the line, and Jie's shot was steered into the side netting for the tying goal.

--Russia 3, Ghana 0: Russia guaranteed itself of a ticket to its second consecutive quarterfinal with the victory.

Ghana dictated the pace throughout, and the Russians were content to sit back and absorb the pressure before settling into a rhythm of their own.

``Our strategy (Thursday) was based on a defensive matter,'' Russian coach Yury Bystritsky said. ``At first we were biding our time, then used quick counter-attacks to go through the defenders of our opponent.''

After dodging a few bullets in the opening moments, the Russians finally fired one of their own to break through in the 36th minute.

Standing just outside the left penalty area, Russian defender Marina Saenko sent a curling 20-yard free kick inside the left post for a 1-0 lead.

Natalia Barbachina's goal doubled the lead in the 54th minute, and Olga Letyushova put it away with another goal in the 80th.

Fred Robledo, [phone]

fred.robledo(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 4 boxes

Photo:

Kelly Golebiowski (7) of Australia contends with China's Yali Liu for possession during the teams' 1-1 tie at Home Depot Center.

Julio Cortez/Daily News

Box:

(1) GROUP A

(2) GROUP B

(3) GROUP C

(4) GROUP D