The first match of the Asian Cup is imminent The Chinese women's football team is looking forward to showing a new look and returning to the top of Asia

At 18:00 Beijing time on January 20, the Chinese women's football team will usher in the first match of the group stage of the 2022 Indian Women's Asian Cup, against the Chinese Taipei women's football team. This is shui Qingxia's first official match after taking charge of the Chinese women's football team, and the Chinese women's football team is looking forward to showing a new look and returning to the top of Asia.

In preparation for this Asian Cup, the Chinese women's football team launched training in Shanghai shortly after the end of the Women's Super League and played a number of warm-up matches. In the 23-person roster for the Asian Cup finally announced by the Chinese women's football team, Tang Jiali, Lou Jiahui, Li Ying, Zhao Lina, Zhang Rui and many other "veterans" returned, becoming a major highlight.

On January 15, the Chinese women's football team departed from Shanghai and arrived in Mumbai, India, by charter flight, officially opening the asian cup tour. In the early morning of the 18th, Tang Jiali, who played for the Women's Football Team of Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, arrived in India and met with the team, so far, all 23 women's football internationals who participated in the Asian Cup had arrived.

At the pre-match press conference held at noon on January 18, Beijing time, Shui Qingxia talked about her expectations for this Asian Cup: she hoped that the Chinese women's football team could go to the end and win the final championship. She also said that the Chinese women's football team can show a new and different style, and hopes that the players will play their own level in the game and overcome different difficulties in the face of different opponents. "I hope that they can unite, unify their thinking, reach a consensus, and if the direction is right, everyone can go further together."

Wang Shanshan, the captain of the Chinese women's football team who participated in the press conference, said that this Asian Cup will face the strongest team in Asia, and different opponents have different ways of playing, which is a good experience for the Chinese women's football team, but no matter which opponent they face, they must do their best, overcome difficulties and play well. "The new team of women's football is composed of three generations of old, middle and young people, and I hope that everyone can play their own spirit in the competition and show the style of our Chinese women's football team to Asia and the world."

This year's Women's Asian Cup has a total of 12 teams participating, divided into 3 groups, and the Chinese women's football team is divided into group A, with the hosts India women's football team, Chinese Taipei women's football team and Iranian women's football team in the same group. According to the rules, the top two of the three groups directly qualified for the top 8, and the third of the two groups with better results also qualified for the qualification. This Asian Cup is also a selection match for the 2023 Women's World Cup, with the top five directly qualifying for the World Cup, while the remaining two best-performing teams will have to participate in the World Cup qualifying play-offs.

As the former hegemon of Asian football, the Chinese women's football team has won the Asian Cup eight times, once achieving seven consecutive championships, and is the team that has won the most championships, but the last time it won the championship was in 2006. In this Asian Cup, the biggest competitors of Chinese women's football are undoubtedly Japanese women's football and Australian women's football. The Chinese women's football team needs to gain a point advantage in the group stage, so as to get a relatively ideal matching situation in the knockout stage in order to launch an impact on the final champion.