On February 6, 2022, the Chinese women's football team won the Asian Cup. After 16 years, the sonorous rose has once again rushed to the top of Asia. A team can be like a person, a person, or a team. Women's soccer girls can fight the pitch, or they can have a posture outside the arena.
There are many definitions of beauty, and these amazing girls have created a unique PINK POWER with strength, blood, unity, and tenacity.
The Chinese women's football team is not only a team, but also a spirit and a force.
32 years old, striker/midfielder
2022 Women's Asian Cup MVP
Footballers have desires, I want to win, because the most complete state is the championship.
In the world of football, Wang Shanshan has always been a low-key "C position". She began playing football at the age of 12, and at the age of 23, she made her debut for the national team in the East Asian women's football tournament, and she was attracted by the attention of her goal as a fledgling. In the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada, Wang Shanshan scored in two consecutive games and led the team to the quarterfinals.
The 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta made everyone remember the name "Wang Shanshan" - whether it was the key goal with Chinese Taipei or the nine goals scored in the match against Tajikistan, it was exciting enough. Returning to the top is a big surprise for everyone, and captain Wang Shanshan knows better than anyone what this championship means for the whole team.
COSMO: Competitive sports, fighting is momentum and strength, women's football girls as a team, what is the biggest winning point?
Wang Shanshan: The goal of all of us is very unified: just! be! want! win! You will act with a goal, this cohesion is always there, no matter what difficulties you encounter, everyone will overcome them together. Even if the score is behind, we feel that we can definitely pull back, so there can be so many headwinds to turn over. Because we are prepared, we have a way to deal with no matter how many difficulties we encounter. This preparation is psychological, physical, strategic, and tactical.
COSMO: What do you think is different about girls who play football?
Wang Shanshan: I think girls who play football have a strong sense of confidence, which is brought to us by football. Every little girl around me says that she likes to win, and she belongs to the kind that has a particularly strong desire to win and lose.
COSMO: It is said that you are a very quiet and shy person in life, how will people of this personality win or lose?
Wang Shanshan: Yes, I am a very quiet person in life, I don't like to talk much, but as soon as I play, I am different, I will run and shout loudly, showing a completely different self. I especially like the feeling of running on the pitch.
COSMO: A lot of young people are now idolizing you, do you want to be like icons?
Wang Shanshan: People who can become icons must have a lot of things that are worth learning from everyone. For example, a lot of people like Ronaldo, and I see self-discipline in him because he always maintains his physical state. I also like Messi because no matter what distractions are around, he only has the ball in his eyes. Even if in the game, the opponent violates him many times, he will not argue with the referee, just think about kicking the ball in, the task is completed. Sister Na (Li Na) is also my idol, and she has been able to run 10 kilometers a day since she retired. Every time I see them, I think, so many excellent people are still working hard, what reason do I have not to work hard? Veteran players like us must take on the responsibility of taking the lead in the core in the team. But football is a team sport, and I think it is more necessary to encounter problems than to become an icon, and the driving role will be greater.
COSMO: What else do you have to win? How many more wins will feel enough?
Wang Shanshan: There is not enough time. There is also the next Asian Games, the World Cup, and the Olympic Games. We want to show the spirit of Chinese women's football on a bigger platform.
COSMO: What's the best state for you?
Wang Shanshan: It's time to win the championship.
21-year-old, striker
Best Newcomer of the 2022 Women's Asian Cup
What has always inspired me is the spiritual strength of the old team members, which makes me have no reason to stop.
After 00, small man, everyone's mouth "Pippi", Sichuan girl Zhang Linyan looks very petite and cute, but she kicks the ball quite "fiercely".
Zhang Linyan participated in the Sichuan Children's Budding Cup football competition at the age of 9, scoring 54 goals for the whole team, and she scored 48. The talented soccer girl later went to Guangzhou Evergrande Real Madrid Football School and was selected for the national women's football junior team in 2013, and is the only member of the Sichuan Province to be selected for the national junior U-14 training team. In the East Asian Division of the U-14 Women's Championship in the same year, 12-year-old Zhang Linyan completed the "Five Sons Dengke" in the first game, becoming the most eye-catching new star of women's football.
From 2016 to 2019, she suffered a knee injury that threatened her career. In 2021, Zhang Linyan re-entered the game and won the fourth place with the team at the 14th National Games. It wasn't until 2022 that she was once again one of the women's team members of the Asian Cup. In the final against the Korean women's football team, she completed the point and scored the goal, became the MVP of the game, and was also elected the best newcomer in the Asian Cup of women's football.
COSMO: How does it feel to be famous and a hero?
Zhang Linyan: This statement is very exaggerated! In fact, everyone is great, the sisters have persisted for so long, the credit should belong to them. I was really lucky to be able to play football with my sisters, and it was an inspiration.
COSMO: Do you feel like you're a talented athlete who belongs to God?
Zhang Linyan: It shouldn't count. Because I'm shorter, a lot of times I have limitations on the pitch, but limitations are sometimes an advantage. Football is a team sport, and I'm more flexible and explosive. In the front court, especially in the box, I have my own advantage! The key is to find your own place, right?
COSMO: After all, girls who play football are a minority, what is it like to play football in a pile of boys from childhood to adulthood?
Zhang Linyan: After I entered the Evergrande Real Madrid Football School, I played with boys for almost a year. Later, I entered the elite team, and I was a girl in the whole team, and at that time, the boys always came to annoy me, and I had to chase them and fight, and I saw one hit one by one... At that time, there was also Tan Kaiyuan in the team, because we were both forwards, so we secretly scored more goals than each other and competed with each other. In fact, this is a good thing for both of us, to prove to each other how good they are.
COSMO: Women's soccer girls have recently become a hot spot because of winning the championship, but it may not be long before you will re-enter a "nobody's attention" state...
Zhang Linyan: In fact, this is also very normal, after all, we are professional players, the past achievements are not interesting to say, for us, it is more important to play the next game. This profession, insisting on it later is love, we still need to take every step down-to-earth.
COSMO: Apart from playing football, what talent do you think you have that is better than anyone else's?
Zhang Linyan: I look good, hahahahaha.
COSMO: That nice and cute Pippi, do you have anything you want to ask us?
Zhang Linyan: I only started applying sunscreen with my sisters in recent years. Well, can I come back in vain later?
25 years old, goalkeeper
Best goalkeeper of the 2022 Women's Asian Cup
The goalkeeper was the last line of defense for the team, and my teammates handed over their backs to me, and I had to take responsibility.
Zhu Yu, born in 1997, has participated in major school-level district football competitions since playing primary school, playing as a defender when he was a child, and later became a goalkeeper.
In 2006, Zhu Yu was selected to enter the sports school in Benxi City to start football training; in 2010, he was selected for the provincial team; in 2014, at the age of 17, Zhu Yu entered the national team. In the final with the South Korean team, facing the two almost deadly goals of the South Korean team, Zhu Yu performed accurate divine poker, won the title of the best goalkeeper of the Asian Cup, and has now joined the Shanghai women's football team.
COSMO: What was it like to win the title of "Best Goalkeeper" in this Women's Asian Cup?
Zhu Yu: Actually, after the game, I was particularly calm. I just got this one honorary title, but this honor doesn't belong to me alone, it's spelled out by everyone together. After this race, there will be new races waiting for us.
COSMO: It's often said that a goalkeeper is "one person holding up the last line of defense", is this a lonely sense of responsibility?
Zhu Yu: On the contrary, not only am I not lonely, but I also have to act as the person who encourages the whole team at all times. The goalkeeper was the last line of defense for the whole team, and my teammates gave me their backs, and I had to take on that responsibility. When everyone is tired, I have to stand up and motivate everyone, let everyone hold on a little longer, the game is not over, we are still on the field, we must fight until the last minute.
COSMO: When watching the ball, I found that the goalkeeper can sometimes accurately predict the direction of the ball, how is this "foreknowledge ability" trained?
Zhu Yu: The so-called "prediction ability" is actually endless practice, and when training every day, you will deal with shots from different angles. Sometimes after the training, Sister Shanshan and I would make an appointment to practice together, and she would attack me. We will also bet that this ball can not be scored, who wins will be very happy, especially interesting. These marks will form a muscle reaction, become instinctive, and when it comes to the game, it is a clever move, in fact, the game is the most experience-enhancing.
COSMO: What do you think has changed the most compared to a few years ago?
Zhu Yu: The physical changes are greater. I used to be thinner and my body was slender. But if I want to go up the ladder one step, I need to make some changes in my body. So, I added special training in strength. Because the goalkeeper needs arm strength to support his body, the muscles of the upper limbs are trained, and the person's feeling becomes different.
COSMO: Do you like your muscles?
Zhu Yu: I definitely like it. With muscles, you are better qualified for this position.
COSMO: What do you think of yourself as your ideal self?
Zhu Yu: I want to be a handsome goalkeeper! In fact, in recent years, the football world has produced a lot of goalkeepers with special personalities, from appearance to style, as long as they stand in front of the goal are very eye-catching. I usually tend to fix my hairstyle, watch videos of bloggers, and find feelings. The ball is handsome, and the people must also be handsome.
COSMO: Competitive sports always have to face wins and losses, is there a time when the mentality collapses?
Zhu Yu: No, I believe in myself, and I will never have a bottomless time in my heart.
26-year-old forward, forward-
In the 2022 Women's Asian Cup final, she scored the winning goal
Every kill is the epitome of our women's football collective battle.
In 2002, Xiao Yuyi's family moved to Shanghai with her father Xiao Shaozhen's work transfer. In the second grade of primary school, she was selected by Zhang Guibao, a retired member of the Shanghai Women's Football Team and a special coach of the Hongkou District Sports Bureau, and began to play football. Around 2007, Xiao Yuyi entered the Shanghai Sports School, and in 2011, she studied under Coach Shui Qingxia. In 2012, Xiao Yuyi participated in the 3rd U-17 Women's World Cup. In 2016, Xiao Yuyi was selected for the national team roster, and in 2017, she made her national team debut at the International Women's Football Invitational Tournament.
She then participated in the Asian Cup, Asian Games and East Asian Cup with the team several times. On February 6, 2022, the women's Asian Cup final against the South Korean women's football team, Xiao Yuyi came on as a substitute, and received an assist from Wang Shanshan in the 3rd minute of stoppage time, scoring a unique goal, helping the Chinese women's football team defeat the opponent 3-2 and win the Asian Cup.
COSMO: How many goals did you score with Shanshan on the list?
Xiao Yuyi: That must be the first in the row, the key game, the killer ball is more memorable!
COSMO: Is it going to get stronger and stronger when you're always fighting tough battles in the face of adversity?
Xiao Yuyi: I have experienced unsatisfactory results, so I know that in adversity, it is absolutely impossible to rely on the strength of one person, so I must fight side by side with my teammates and encourage each other. There is a tacit understanding between us, needless to say, everyone has a pair of eyes, everything is in the word - everyone is particularly particularly eager to win.
COSMO: Just by looking at the appearance, people think that you are the type of sweet and well-behaved woman, but you have actually started playing football since you were very young, right?
Xiao Yuyi: I feel that I am particularly lucky, when I was in the second grade of primary school, we began to organize a women's football team in Shanghai Yunguang Second Primary School, and a group of girls began to practice from an early age, step by step to let me get to the present. Although the young teammates at that time had all left the stadium, the feeling of running hard together at that time gave me a unique experience of growing up. Every victory makes me more eager to rise to a new space and makes me more confident. This feeling of inner secret joy is difficult for ordinary people to feel.
COSMO: As an athlete, I have always lived in a group, do you also want to have time alone? What does a person do when they are alone?
Xiao Yuyi: Collective life is an atmosphere, we are in the group all year round, training, flying to a place, training, then playing, and then back to their home field, every year is the same. I find the joy of being alone in music, I like to sing, I once recorded an album myself, and there are many people on our team who like music, and they often get together at night off and have a concert. Even before the competition, I listen to some encouraging music to heat myself up.
COSMO: If COSMO could fulfill a wish for you, what would you like to make?
Xiao Yuyi: I like rapper Jony-J (Xiao Jia), I think he is particularly powerful, if you can feed a song with him would be great. I'm not very good at rap yet, but I can help him sing hooks.
23 years old, striker
He was sent to the field several times during the white-hot phase of the game, tearing apart the opposing defense
As long as we stand on the field, we should fight like heroes.
Born in 1999, Yanwen Wang is a standard Gen Z young force. She has loved football since she was a child and has been training since she was 7 years old. She competed in the AFC U14 Regional Championship and helped the team win the championship. In 2019, she entered the training list for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and scored the opponent's goal in the 2021 Olympic group stage against the Netherlands.
In 2021, in the final of the women's football adult group of the 14th National Games, Wang Yanwen's Olympic team won the championship. At the 2022 Women's Asian Cup, Wang Yanwen appeared several times in the final stages, tearing apart the opposing defense line with a powerful attack and launching a charge for victory.
COSMO: How did you celebrate the night of Champions Night?
Wang Yanwen: Playing with people in the locker room, the excitement is too uncontrollable. The feelings between everyone are already very good, and they can't stop going crazy together.
COSMO: After winning the championship, many people called the women's football girl a hero.
Wang Yanwen: Heroes are not yet counted, but I think as long as we stand on the field and face opponents from other countries, we should fight like a hero and win glory for the country.
COSMO: As a young person, you don't seem to play much social media?
Wang Yanwen: I don't think it's necessary to show everything I have in front of the public. Time is too precious, I brush video platforms are also very rare, outside of training to give myself time to think. For professional athletes, 23 is the right time to rush, so recently I started learning English, hoping to have the opportunity to communicate with international players.
COSMO: What do you think is the greatest charm of football for you, and do you like the excitement and fear that comes with competition?
Wang Yanwen: I am an Aries, born with reason in hot blood. Fear and stress are something that any good athlete will face. But there is a saying that the narrow road meets the brave to win, the brave meet the wise to win, no matter when, the most important thing is to focus on the game itself, sink your heart to think about how to win the opponent, at this time can not think of fear.
COSMO: Aside from playing football, what are some of your specialties that people don't know about?
Wang Yanwen: Is the brain good? I still move my ears! No kidding, the coffee I brewed should be the best in the team. For a while I especially liked to study hand-brewed coffee, bought a lot of equipment, and tried different beans. Every time you hold the hand punching pot in a circle against the ground coffee, the mood will gradually become clearer. Now, driven by other teammates, I have begun to drink tea again, tea has just started, it is not yet level, anyway, it can be made for other girls to drink together.
COSMO: Growing up, you've been living in the women's soccer community, what do you want to do most during the holidays?
Wang Yanwen: I especially like freedom, and after being closed for too long, I long for freedom even more. I sincerely hope that the epidemic will pass quickly, the world will be peaceful, let me travel, I still have to learn to dive, see the mountains and see the sea.
COSMO: What are the parts of your body that make you most proud?
Wang Yanwen: Abs! I don't think that white and thin is the only criterion for good looks, both men and women, should have muscle lines, black is not okay.
COSMO: Do you have any desires for yourself?
Wang Yanwen: My biggest wish is to be able to run faster!
31 years old, goalkeeper
In the 2022 Women's Asian Cup against Iran, she played as a starter
Football has no gender, and girls can be feminine off the field and wolf on the court.
Zhao Lina began to contact football in the first grade of primary school, and then entered systematic training and embarked on a career path. In May 2015, Zhao Lina was selected for the Chinese women's football team to participate in the Olympic list and the National Team list of the World Cup in Canada, and played with the team; in November, she represented the Shanghai women's football team in the Women's Super League, and won the league championship and the title of the best goalkeeper of the season; in the same year, she made her national team debut in the women's football friendly match between China and Italy.
In March 2016, Zhao Lina participated in the Rio Olympic Qualifying Tournament as the main goalkeeper of the Chinese team and competed in Rio. Since then, she has been the main goalkeeper of the national team, participating in various competitions. In 2021, Zhao Lina returned to the national team training list after a three-year absence, and performed well as a starting goalkeeper in the 2022 Women's Asian Cup group stage against Iran.
COSMO: On the day of the championship, you recorded the scene with your mobile phone on the spot, which allowed us to see a lot of exciting moments. What other interesting things have you experienced outside of the camera?
Lina Zhao: Generally speaking, the champion team will get a grand trophy and a medal. But this time, a small trophy was presented to each of us, which was a real surprise. When we hold the trophy on the podium. They also joked together that this is more suitable for taking it back to make milk tea to drink, and they also toasted each other as they talked.
COSMO: For most girls, football is a "niche sport", what is it like to be that unique "soccer girl"?
Lina Zhao: I was sent to study football in the first grade of elementary school, so I always joked that I started to like football when I didn't even know what football was. I remember that every Monday morning, my mother sent me to school, and when she turned around and left, I was free like a wild horse. I can skip two classes a day, play crazy with my teammates on the football field, roll in the mud on rainy days, and I feel the joy of freedom in my first grade.
COSMO: In addition to the goalkeeper, I heard that you are also a drummer!
Zhao Lina: Yes, in fact, there is a lot in common between the drummer and the goalkeeper, because the positions of these two characters are behind the other teammates, and everyone will be more at ease because you are behind you. Right! I want my presence to reassure them.
COSMO: Do you like to be called a "beautiful soccer player"?
Zhao Lina: Many people think that football is a man's sport, and some people will think that it is a group of tomboys when they talk about women's football, which is a stereotype of gender. At the end of the day, football is a competitive sport, and when we stand on the pitch, we're girls, but we also have wolf nature. No matter what it is in private, once we stand on the court and change into the jersey, we show the fighting spirit of sports.
COSMO: If you go back in time, would you still choose football?
Zhao Lina: Since 2018, I have started to make short videos, and many fans think that I have retired and cannot enter the national team. Now, after four years of hard work, I'm back in the Asian Cup and back on the pitch, and that's the best response to them. I have to train six days a week, and I spend a day recording short videos and making my vlogs, which is very hard work and energy. The reason why I haven't left yet is because of my love of football. At the same time, it is football that has put me in this position, and I hope to do more communication for this sport, so that people who love women's football can understand and tolerate women's football more. Each of us has our own unique character and characteristics, and has our own story. Today's Chinese women's football girls are a more specific and personalized generation.
Source: Fashion COSMO, May issue
Curator: Jakii
Editors: He Zhiyang, Ruo Fei
Photography: Guan Shenyi
Vision: Bian Yuqing
Text: He Yuan, Zhang Lingyun, Ne Ji, Yang Liwen, Ruo Fei
Producer: Sunny Li
Styling: Li Mengmeng
Styling Assistant: Li Zikang
Makeup: Liu Yiyi (Zhang Linyan, Wang Yanwen, Wang Shanshan), Mei Shaobo Mei (Zhao Lina), Grace (Xiao Yuyi, Zhu Yu)
Hair: Peach (Zhang Linyan, Wang Yanwen, Wang Shanshan), Mei Shaobo Mei (Zhao Lina), Long (Xiao Yuyi, Zhu Yu)
Assistant: Wang Yijie
Video Producer: Sijia Wang
Video camera: Yu Kailei, Nie Yuan
Video clip: Lin Rongtao
Image source
Stylish COSMO
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