Find the correct positioning of the Chinese women's football team - interview with the head coach of the Chinese women's football team, Shui Qingxia

Beijing, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Finding the correct positioning of the Chinese women's football team -- an exclusive interview with Shui Qingxia, the head coach of the Chinese women's football team

Xinhua News Agency reporters Xiao Shiyao, Zhao Jiantong, Wang Haoming

A few days ago, Shui Qingxia, the head coach of the Chinese women's football team, was interviewed by Xinhua News Agency in Guangzhou, just in time for the first anniversary of the women's Asian Cup victory. When the reporter mentioned this matter in casual conversation, Shui Qingxia sighed: "Really, I didn't pay attention at all. It's not been an easy year. ”

In the past year, flowers, applause and honor that were enough to dazzle people's heads poured to Shui Qingxia and the women's football girls. How to keep herself and the team members calm and sober has become an important lesson for Shui Qingxia.

In the coming year, the Women's World Cup, Hangzhou Asian Games, Paris Olympic Qualifiers, three consecutive major competitions are just around the corner. This inevitably comes more attention, higher expectations, and more pressure.

In the interview, Shui Qingxia mentioned "mutual understanding" many times, she hopes that the coach and the players can understand each other, and also hope that the outside world and the team can understand each other. "The key is to have a correct positioning for the Chinese women's football team." She said.

"The correct positioning of Chinese women's football"

The Women's World Cup, which starts in July, is the first big test Shui Qingxia faces this year. The group stage opponents of the Chinese women's football team include England and Denmark, two European powerhouses, and the group qualification competition is fierce. Shui Qingxia admitted that the first match against Denmark in the group stage was a "life and death battle".

"Now the European women's football team is developing faster, and the first match against Denmark is crucial. If you win the first game, you have hope (of qualifying), but the other side will also think so, so do a little better in the details. What makes the World Cup different from other cups is the cruelty, every game is really not easy to play. Shui Qingxia said.

"I hope that media friends, including fans and friends, have a correct positioning of the Chinese women's football team, and I think mutual understanding is the most important." The so-called correct positioning, Shui Qingxia explained: "It cannot be said that because the Chinese women's football team won the Asian Cup, (we) stood at the top of Asia, and then we can compete with strong teams in the World Cup and even achieve better results." Realistically speaking, it is unlikely. ”

"The Asian Cup played well shows that through training and competition, we can get closer to winning. But overall, we are not among the major teams in the world. It's not that everything is fine when the game is good, it's not that the team can't do anything if the game is not satisfactory, Roma is not made in a day, it takes time to accumulate. There will be successes and failures in this process, and of course everyone wants to succeed a little more, and everyone understands each other. We see the gap, and then how we move forward, that's the most important thing. ”

"We are 300m, they are 1000m"

In recent years, the rise of women's football in Europe has exceeded imagination. The gap between Chinese women's football and European strong teams is intuitively reflected in the data.

"Our previous races (average per player per race) combined were about 300 meters, now European teams are around 700 meters, and even higher teams have to reach 1,000 meters. There is still a big gap between us and them. Shui Qingxia gave an example.

"Looking at the offensive and defensive conversion speed of European teams through the game, we also have new requirements in the speed of offensive and defensive conversion, and the training requirements are much higher than before."

"Through training, we are also improving. In terms of overall performance, [some players can run in sprints] almost 700 meters, which is double the previous one, which I thought was impossible to achieve before. Of course, the amount of running is achieved, but running in real races is not the same as training running. Shui Qingxia said.

"See where the difference is through the competition"

On the 14th, the Chinese women's football team will usher in the first warm-up match during the training period in Spain, and the team will play four European teams such as Sweden and Ireland in 10 days, which is also the first time that Shui Qingxia has come to Europe to participate in the team after leading the team.

"We haven't played against foreign teams for a long time. Although I watched some women's European Championship matches and had a basic understanding on the video, I was not very familiar with the real fight, so I also hoped to exercise and improve through the game. Shui Qingxia said.

"It's the international break, and we can see if our training can meet the needs of the World Cup competition, what is worse, and where it is worse, which can only be reflected through the competition."

Shui Qingxia introduced that after overseas training in February, the Chinese women's football team will have a three-week training camp in Shanghai in March after a short rest, and will go to Europe again for training and competition on the international break in April. "There will also be training camps in May, and if possible, I hope to invite some foreign teams to play in China. The feeling of the game is important. ”

"There will still be surprises for the Chinese team"

In this year's Women's World Cup, Shui Qingxia said that the goal of the Chinese team is to strive to reach the quarterfinals. "The Chinese women's football team reached the round of 16 in the last World Cup, so we still have to set a higher standard and goal, so that the team will have more motivation."

"We will definitely give it our all, every game will not say that we are worse than the opponent, we will give up, we will definitely fight. I have always warned myself, the players, that competitive competitions are won and lost, and that you must do your best to do your own thing. This is something that you have to do well. I hope that everyone can understand each other, and I think this is the most important thing. Shui Qingxia said.

Shui Qingxia believes that the Chinese women's football team also has its own advantages in the face of European powerhouses. "Asian teams and Chinese teams play a little more as a whole and can play partial cooperation. The Chinese team has some advantages in this regard. They may be more direct and more capable one-on-one. We must do a better job in the overall joint defense, auxiliary defense, and overall attack. ”

"I think there will still be some surprises for the Chinese team," she said.

"Hopefully there will be a lot of young players on the field in the World Cup"

In the training list of the Chinese women's football team in this edition, Shui Qingxia recruited a number of young players around 20 years old. She said that this year, the coaching staff is consciously selecting some young players to join the team.

"Last year there were relatively few competitions, and this year we hope to select some young players. Some young players have a lot of shining points and do a good job in training, the key is to watch the game. ”

"The February game will allow the young players to see if they can not be timid on the field, and I think it is okay to show 60%, 70% in all aspects, and then improve through training. If there is a good performance in the international competition, give her a chance. Shui Qingxia said.

"I hope that there are many young players on the field in the World Cup, which is also a good thing for the Chinese team."

"Not everyone asks them to go out"

Since becoming the head coach of the Chinese women's football team, Shui Qingxia has expressed on different occasions that she has encouraged more players to play overseas. In the past year, the Chinese women's football team has become larger and larger. Shui Qingxia introduced that some overseas players will participate in joint training during the Spanish training, and all overseas players will return to the team for training by the end of May.

"Go out and see what is good about foreign leagues, what the coaches emphasize, what they focus on. See what you're doing better and what you need to improve. From the level of self-management, it is also a kind of exercise, there is more time for domestic training, and the player's self-management ability is still relatively lacking. In addition to training abroad, I do a lot of things by myself. So I hope they can go out and take this step first, so that they can have a new understanding. Shui Qingxia said.

Shui Qingxia said that the team has specially established a contact group with the overseas players to facilitate timely understanding of the players' ideological status and training status. "They will also send me the training videos and I will see the situation. We are in touch often. ”

Everything has advantages and disadvantages, and Shui Qingxia frankly said that staying in the ocean is sometimes a "double-edged sword". "The training time abroad is relatively short, and the confrontation is over in a short time. Some team members have been abroad for a long time, play relatively few games, and are worried about training problems, so they want to come back. ”

"So not every player asks them to go out, it depends on the opportunity."

"No training definitely no competition"

Due to various reasons, Wang Shuang and Tang Jiali did not regularly participate in training and matches in the second half of 2022, and did not play much time in the club, which also caused concerns about the competitive status of these two core players of the Chinese women's football team.

In this regard, Shui Qingxia said frankly: "The outside world is worried that in fact, we are also worried, because of visas and other reasons, they have not trained systematically for a period of time, and they are far from the best state." You have a certain amount of quality, but if the training is not guaranteed, it will be difficult to meet the needs of the competition. There are also concerns about this, so let them return to the team some time ago, at least training is much better than their own training. ”

"Wang Shuang went to the United States, because she has a contract and must go, I hope she can pass the training as soon as possible there and continuously improve her condition. Tang Jiali did not practice for a while ago, and then she was injured again, and she is still in the process of recovery. ”

"They are all very important players, and I hope that through these things, they will have a new understanding and mutual understanding, including my understanding of the players, their understanding of the coach. If you don't train, there will definitely be no competition, and athletes should have a clear understanding and self-demand. Shui Qingxia said.

Last year's men's World Cup in Qatar also touched Shui Qingxia deeply. "Now the offensive and defensive transitions are faster and the physical requirements are higher. Including Messi has gone back to participate in the defense, Messi has rarely acted like this before. The role of stars is very important, but there must also be the overall performance of the team, and the development of women's football in the future will also go in this direction. ”

"Challenge when there are difficulties"

After the Women's World Cup, the Chinese women's football team will participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games in September and the Paris Olympic qualifiers in October. Whether it is the Asian Games at home or the competitive Olympic qualifiers, Shui Qingxia is facing a lot of performance pressure. To lead the team to three consecutive major competitions in less than half a year is no small test for any head coach.

"It's just that there are a lot of difficulties to challenge. I don't know what will happen after that, we will play one game at a time and finish the World Cup as well as possible. Fortunately, there is still nearly a month to adjust (before the Asian Games), and we have to arrange it. Olympic qualifiers are more critical and more brutal. Shui Qingxia said.

"I also told the team that everyone knows that this year's competition is more heavy. I hope that we will practice our physical fitness and skills and tactics a little better during the winter training, lay a good foundation, and then adjust our mentality through competition. ”

"We will also make some fine-tuning in terms of personnel according to the tactical requirements of different games, so that everyone can do their best at each stage of the game." Shui Qingxia said. (Contributors: Wang Ruiping, Gongbing)