DOHA: New China Olympic football coach Ratomir Dujkovic was upbeat after his team''s winning debut performance in Doha Asian Games.

Midfielder Zhou Haibin, from the national premier league champions Shandong Luneng, scored the only goal early in the first half to give China a 1-0 win over Iraq in the second round of men''s event on Wednesday.

"One goal is enough to take points. The first match is always much more important than the following matches in the tournament," said the 60-year-old Serb.

Taking over the job less than two months ago, Dujkovic has been focussing on relieving the pressure on his players, who are notoriously known to easily get out of control, both technically and mentally, in big events.

"We are optimistic to make the final. The whole team fought to die today. I am proud of them," he said.

Apart from the victory, the coach was encouraged by the Chinese team''s promise, especially after left-back Zhang Ke was sent off only minutes before the interval.

"We showed determination and ambition. There were mistakes we did during the match. But I am not unsatisfied as we won the match. Generally speaking, I have no complaints," he said.

"The team is young. They are almost 19-20. We suffered in the second half this evening but we managed to hold on.

"We deserve the victory as we had more chances."

Even in the second half, the Chinese players showed a rarely seen determination and confidence in both sides of the field and created even more serious chances in the second half.

Dujkovic, who steered Ghana to the last 16 of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, sees potential in his charges. "Our team has talented players with a lot of potential," he said.

China has been drawn in Group E with Oman, Malaysia and Iraq and will face Malaysia in the group''s second match on Sunday.