Original title: The U17 Women’s World Cup is a clanging rose
It’s a complicated situation —
After the first two rounds of the U17 Women’s World Cup Group D, the four teams are all 1 win and 1 loss, with the same score of 3 points. Who can break out of the group and enter the knockout stage depends on the direct dialogue in the final round, and whoever wins will have the initiative.
Facing the previous champion and the strongest Spanish team in the group, the Chinese girls repeatedly resolved the opponent’s threatening shots with their tenacious defense and the goalkeeper’s high and low blocks. However, the Spanish team broke the deadlock with a set kick in the 61st minute. Atro took advantage of the corner kick to score the goal and make the score 1-0. In the 79th minute, the Chinese team also scored a goal, but was ruled offside. At the last moment, the Chinese team launched a fierce attack on the opponent’s goal, but unfortunately failed to save the defeat and missed the knockout stage.
The U17 Women’s World Cup is an event founded by FIFA in 2008 and is held every two years. The Chinese team participated in the competition twice in 2012 and 2014, but they both failed in the group stage and were unable to go further. This U17 Women’s World Cup was supposed to be held in 2020, because the epidemic was postponed to this year. It is worth mentioning that the Chinese team is a substitute this time. In the 2019 Asian Junior Championship, the Chinese team won the third place. Originally, only the top two could qualify for the U17 Women’s World Cup. However, because the runner-up North Korea announced its withdrawal in March this year, the Chinese team made up for the World Cup qualification. , representing Asia with the Japanese team and the host Indian team.
This year’s U17 Women’s World Cup has a total of 16 teams participating, divided into 4 groups, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the knockout rounds. In the group draw, the Chinese team was in the same group with the 2018 U17 Women’s World Cup champions and runners-up Spain, Mexico, and South American powerhouse Colombia. Due to the strength of their opponents and the fact that the Chinese U17 women’s football team has been away from the international arena for a long time, the girls admitted that they would put down their burdens and fight for their opponents before going out.
In the first game, facing the last runner-up Mexico, the Chinese team finally got a good start with a 2-1 victory over the opponent with the goal of the captain Qiao Ruiqi and the excellent performance of the goalkeeper Liu Chen. In another game, Colombia and the previous champion Spain fought 90 minutes and lost 0-1. In the second round of the group stage, the Colombian team defeated the Chinese team 2-0 with two goals from the new star Caicedo, while the Spanish team broke the upset and was defeated by the Mexico team 2-1. After the two rounds, the 4 teams returned to the same starting line, and they all retained the possibility of qualifying. The Chinese women’s football team ranked bottom due to the disadvantage of goal difference, and the situation is more dangerous. They must defeat the Spanish team in the final battle before they can advance. The key battle is to let go. Although they lost to the Spanish team 0-1, the young girls still showed good strength and tenacious spirit. After the game, the Chinese girls who were unwilling to lose shed tears on the field, but their impressive performance was enough to make them leave with their heads held high.
After three games, Chinese goalkeeper Liu Chen has become one of the new stars of fans’ attention. During the game, she saved many threatening shots from opponents. After the game against Mexico, Liu Chen said humbly: “After training for so long, I think this is what we should do. This game itself is stressful, and the whole team must work hard to defend well.” The outstanding performance of the Chinese girls also won praise from their opponents. Mexico coach Ana did not hesitate to praise the Chinese girls, “The physical fitness of the Chinese team players is amazing. I think they are top players and they can run non-stop for 90 minutes.”
Work together and move on. Although they missed the top 8, being able to show themselves on the stage of the U17 Women’s World Cup is undoubtedly a valuable asset for young women’s football girls. In time, roses will bloom. (Qiu Jianhui)