Chinese Women’s Football Team Staying in the Asian Games Village requires good results to regain confidence
Beijing Evening News reporter Zhao Xiaosong
Yesterday, the Chinese women’s football team officially settled in the Asian Games Athletes Village, starting the final stage of preparations. After failing in the group stage of this summer’s World Cup, they urgently need to win back their confidence. Shui Qingxia, head coach of the Chinese women’s football team, previously expressed her hope that the team will repay the fans’ support with outstanding performance.
In this Asian Games, the Chinese women’s football team is in Group A with the Mongolian team and the Uzbekistan team. The world rankings of the two teams of Mongolia and Uzbekistan are 127th and 50th respectively, which is significantly different from the 15th-ranked Chinese team. On the evening of the 22nd, the Chinese women’s football team will make its debut at the Hangzhou Asian Games, facing Mongolia and will compete with the Uzbekistan team again on the evening of the 28th.
The Chinese women’s football team has been gathering in Suzhou to prepare for the Asian Games since the 9th. The time is relatively short, so Shui Qingxia made some choices in the training content and focused on offensive drills. She said: “In the first game, we must strengthen the offense. I have practiced the change of the full midfielder when attacking before and also practiced headers, outflanks, etc. I hope the players can adapt as soon as possible.”
Among the 22-person Asian Games roster of the Chinese women’s football team, four of them, Yan Jinjin, Urigumula, Ou Yiyao, and Liu Yanqiu, did not participate in this summer’s World Cup. “Ou Yiyao also practiced with the team before, but her body is not at all advantageous against European teams. It can be used against Asian opponents.” Shui Qingxia said that the team needs young players like Ou Yiyao, but after the Asian Games, they will also participate in the Paris Olympic qualifiers at the end of October, so they need to consider the lineup comprehensively and find a balance.
In addition, since the Asian Games is not within FIFA’s international competition schedule, in principle, European and American clubs are not obliged to release players. But this time, Wang Shuang, Shen Mengyu, and Li Mengwen returned to China from overseas leagues to support them. Shui Qingxia explained that they finally made the trip because they had written their participation in the Asian Games into their contracts when they were studying abroad.
After missing the knockout rounds of the World Cup, fans are looking forward to the Chinese women’s football team achieving good results in the Asian Games. Shui Qingxia thanked the fans for their support. She said: “When encountering difficulties, we must face them. We must do a good job in training and competition to repay the fans.”