Xinhua News Agency, Canberra, July 27 Title: East Asian Cup Harvest and Deficiencies Coexist Chinese women's football team still needs to be improved
Xinhua News Agency reporter Yue Dongxing
Three games, one win and two draws, against the old rival Japan and South Korea women's football team was once passive but withstood the pressure to win a draw, which is the report card handed over by the Asian champion Chinese women's football team in the East Asian Cup.
On July 26, chinese players after the match. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu
After drawing with Japan 0:0 on the evening of the 26th, the Chinese women's football team finally won the runner-up of this East Asian Cup. For the Chinese team, which lacks high-level competition training at this stage, it is acceptable to be able to examine new talents and run into the lineup for next year's Women's World Cup, while not letting Japan and South Korea win. However, the problems and deficiencies exposed in the competition will be solved in the next stage of overseas training.
Looking back at the three games of the East Asian Cup, the Chinese team has three gains. First of all, head coach Shui Qingxia insisted on leading the new with the old, which led to the growth of young players. There are three "post-00s" players who have been given valuable practical opportunities, namely wang linlin, a central defender who has started three consecutive games, Zhang Linyan, an attacker in the front, and Wan Jiayao, a full-back. Among them, Wang Linlin and Zhang Linyan each scored a goal, showing the strength of competing for the main position.
On July 26, China's Wang Linlin (left) won the Best Defender Award. Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Japan Football Association)
Secondly, Shui Qingxia tried different combinations of personnel, allowing the outside world to see the depth and potential of the team's bench. On the back line, Wang Linlin partnered with Wang Xiaoxue and gradually found a tacit understanding. Gao Chen and Yao Wei on both sides performed steadily, and young player Wan Jiayao showed a certain impact. Considering that there are veterans such as former captains Wu Haiyan and Li Jiayue on the bench, the team is at least well-staffed in the center-back position.
In the midfield, Zhang Xin and Yang Lina, Zhang Rui and Yao Lingwei are two sets of different styles of back combinations. Wu Chengshu, Xiao Yuyi and Song Duan on the flanks, Wang Shanshan, the captain with outstanding ability to protect and split the ball on the front line, and Wang Shuang, Tang Jiali and Zhang Linyan, who have outstanding skills, have all tried to cooperate with each other and transpose. However, it can be seen that the midfield has not yet found the most tacit combination, and there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Third, the Chinese women's football team continues the precious characteristics of hard work, strong cohesion and never giving up, as well as the tight tactical qualities of the three lines of defense, midfield and forward. Even when they didn't play well and their opponents were better, the team was able to withstand the pressure and equalize against South Korea and did not concede a goal against Japan.
On July 23, Chinese players Song Duan (first from right) and Zhang Rui (second from left) blocked the shots of South Korean player Chi Xiaoran (second from right). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu
Compared with the performance of the Asian Cup in February this year, it can be found that the Chinese team's cooperation in the East Asian Cup is not enough, and there are more mistakes in passing and receiving, which makes it difficult for the team to play an efficient and smooth cooperation when turning from defense to attack, creating few opportunities for substantial threats. Moreover, compared with the opponent, an obvious shortcoming of the Chinese team is the lack of control over the game, the frequency of missing the ball, grabbing the ball, and losing the ball again is high, and the player's physical energy consumption is large. These are all areas that need to be improved next.
At the same time as the East Asian Cup came to an end, the European Women's Football Championship also entered the semi-final stage. Shui Qingxia said she watches the game every day and pays attention to the opponents she may meet at next year's World Cup. "Now the overall level of European women's football is very high, especially in terms of body collision, attack and defense conversion speed, there is a growing trend of masculinity."
The coaching staff of the Chinese team pays attention to the rapid progress of the European team, and will bring targeted guidance and promotion to the whole team in the next overseas training. Of course, this also indicates that the Chinese women's football team will undergo a greater test in the World Cup.