After more than a month of intensive training at the Shanghai Oriental Oasis Sports Training Base, the new Chinese women's football team, led by the new coach Shui Qingxia, will leave Shanghai on a chartered flight late at night on January 15 and fly to Mumbai, India, to participate in the upcoming 20th Women's Asian Cup, which will be held from January 20 to February 6.
Although the more obvious epidemic in India has brought physical health threats to the teams participating in the Women's Asian Cup, the goal of the Chinese team to achieve good results has always been firm. In order to do a good job in epidemic prevention, competition and daily life protection during the team's visit to India, the Chinese Football Association has recently contacted the Chinese consulate in the local area for help. The Chinese Football Association and its key leaders will continue to give the Chinese women's participation in this visit to India the greatest guarantee support as they support the national men's football team.
On January 9, the new Chinese women's football team, led by former international Shui Qingxia, gathered in Shanghai to prepare for the Asian Cup women's football match. This is also the first official training of the Chinese women's football team after the tokyo Olympic Games. A total of 34 players were selected for this period of The Chinese Women's Football Training Squad. However, Tang Jiali and Shen Mengyu, who play for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League and the Scottish Celtics respectively, are currently representing their respective club teams, so the two of them cannot participate in the training of the national team during the Shanghai period.
For the Chinese women's football team, the challenges facing the Asian Cup this time mainly come from two aspects. On the one hand, it comes from the competitive level. After the Tokyo Olympics experienced a "2-7 massacre" and the embarrassment of missing out on the knockout rounds, the team needed to be regrouped through a coaching change and a series of management improvements. Due to the increase in the capacity of the new Women's World Cup, up to 7 of the 12 teams participating in this Asian Cup may be able to qualify for the World Cup (the Asian Cup is the Asian Qualifier of the World Cup). As far as the current asian women's football competition pattern is concerned, although it is difficult for Chinese women's football to keep pace with strong teams such as Japan and Australia in the short term, it is still a strong team in this Asian Cup. As the third runner-up of the last Asian Cup, as long as the Chinese women's football team ranks in the top 5 in this tournament, it will be able to secure the right to qualify for the World Cup, so maintaining or even surpassing the record of the previous Cup is the direction that the whole team strives for.
Another challenge facing China's women's football team is related to "health and safety". Affected by the epidemic, the Indian Football Association has previously temporarily suspended its own football league. The ongoing epidemic in the country has also worried many women's Asian Cup teams, including the Chinese team. However, as of January 10, the AFC has no plans to adjust the schedule of this cup competition. This means that if the Chinese women's football team wants to participate in the 2023 Women's World Cup, it must participate in this Women's Asian Cup as a World Cup qualifier.
The Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned on the 10th that the schedule of the Chinese women's football team to go to India has been determined. The whole team plans to take a charter flight late at night on January 15, Beijing time, leaving Shanghai and flying directly to Mumbai, India. The team's local residency is a hotel designated by the AFC. The team will be stationed in the same hotel as the chinese Taipei team, the Iranian team and the host India team during the group stage. However, as with the previous AFC-sponsored events such as the Men's AFC Champions League, this women's Asian Cup will strictly implement the "bubble" closed-loop epidemic prevention standards for all participating teams. During the period when the Chinese team is stationed in the hotel in the competition area, it will live and work in a separate floor.
Considering the reality of the epidemic and other realities, the Chinese Football Association has previously contacted the Chinese consulate in the local area, and the consulate will also provide assistance to the training, life and competition of the Chinese women's football team during its stay in India.
In addition, the support and guarantee of the Chinese Football Association and its relevant leaders for the visit of the Chinese women's football team is no less than that enjoyed by the national men's football team during the preparation for the World Preliminary Tournament. For example, the association will send special nutritionists with the team, and will also create convenient conditions for the team to eat, live and travel during the team's stay in India through a series of personal relationships among the members of the association.
According to the plan, the Chinese women's football team will select 21 players from the 32 players participating in the Shanghai training camp to visit India, and Tang Jiali and Shen Mengyu will go directly from the United Kingdom to India to meet the team.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Zhao