At 8 o'clock Beijing time tonight, Australia's Perth Rectangular Stadium will play the first round of the Women's World Cup Group C match between the Chinese women's football team and the Danish women's football team. The result of this match will largely determine the qualification of the group, and for the Chinese women's team under Shui Qingxia, the first match is a "life and death battle".
The Chinese women's football team plays in the 442 formation
The Chinese women's football team and the Danish women's football team have met 10 times in history, and the Chinese women's football team has a clear advantage of 7 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats. The two teams have met a total of 3 times in the World Cup, and the Chinese women's football team is unbeaten with 2 wins and 1 draw. However, the last time the two sides met was four years ago.
At present, the latest international ranking of the Danish team is 13th, and the Chinese women's football team is 14th. In terms of rankings, this is a close contest. But in fact, the Danish women's football team has made rapid progress in recent years, especially their physical confrontation ability and high-pressure style comparable to male athletes, which is the biggest test for the Chinese women's team. Over the past five years, the Chinese women's football team has been struggling to win against European opponents close to or above their rankings.
According to the recent warm-up and preparation training, Shui Qingxia should adopt the main formation of 442 in the first battle, mainly based on defense and counterattack. In terms of goalkeepers, Zhu Yu was the best goalkeeper during the Asian Cup victory for the Chinese women's football team. On the back line, the two full-backs on the left and right, Chen Qiaozhu and Li Mengwen, have been the main players this year. In terms of central defenders, post-00s young player Wang Linlin has been replacing the injured Wang Xiaoxue, who is also the main force of iron fighting. In the last two warm-up games, Shui Qingxia used another post-00s young player Dou Jiaxing to partner Wang Linlin in central defense, but the old captain Wu Haiyan is also an important candidate, and even does not rule out pulling Wang Shanshan back to the central defender position. In terms of midfield, the back combination of Yang Lina and Zhang Rui is relatively stable, and the probability of Zhang Xin entering the main team is relatively large, and Zhang Linyan is an indispensable offensive strength of the current team. Wu Chengshu has scored consecutive goals recently, is in good form, and hopes to compete for more performance opportunities. As for Wang Shuang, although she is the "first sister" in the team, she has only returned from the United States for 8 days, and whether her physical condition can adapt is still a mystery. On the front line, it is partnered by Tang Jiali and Xiao Yuyi.
Shui Qingxia is the first Chinese women's football team to participate in the World Cup as a player and a coach, and she has been screening personnel and studying preparation plans for this year's World Cup after leading the Chinese women's football team to regain the Asian Cup championship after 16 years last year. At the pre-match press conference, Shui Qingxia said: "The opponent's physical advantages exist objectively, (our) disadvantages are not what I care about, let's take advantage of the strengths and avoid the weaknesses!" Since the start of this Women's World Cup, there have been more penalties, and Shui Qingxia revealed that they have done special training.
Danish women are slightly more advantageous than they can afford to work with
The Danish women's team has missed three World Cups since 2007 and is returning to the Women's World Cup for the first time in 16 years. In the warm-up matches leading up to the World Cup, the Danish women's team won all but two goals to Spain, including Japan, who are currently the leader in Asian football.
Under the leadership of coach Sandgard, the Danish women's team focuses on defense and is good at playing 433 formations. The Danish women's team, with the exception of two goalkeepers from the Danish domestic league, play overseas for the remaining 21 players. The 30-year-old star Hade, captain and all-time top scorer, now plays for Bayern Women, having been the world's highest-paid female footballer. With eight goals and three assists this season, Hade is in very good form. Shui Qingxia admitted before the game that she would pay close attention to this player.
The battle between China and Denmark was played at the rectangular stadium in the west coast city of Perth, Australia, which has a capacity of only about 20,000 people, and is the smaller of the 10 stadiums in this World Cup. In order to protect the turf of the stadium, the organizing committee of the event does not allow teams to go to the venue for ball training before the game. The Chinese women's football team could only practice with the ball at a local stadium in Perth last night, and then went to the rectangular stadium at 9 p.m. that night for half an hour of no-ball acclimatization. In contrast, the Danish women's football team has been training in Perth since arriving in Australia on July 11, and has a slight advantage in waiting for work.
The match was refereeed by Canadian referee Baudouin, who managed the opening round of the group stage match between China and Germany at the 2019 Women's World Cup. It is worth noting that the referee's penalty for physical confrontation between players is relatively lenient.
The much-watched Women's World Cup
Opening on July 20
Chinese audiences can't wait to see it
The emergence of Chinese women's football girls
Why do we love Chinese women's football so much?
The reason may be in the words of coach Shui Qingxia
Dare to fight
In 1991, the first generation of Chinese women's football played the first Women's World Cup in China. Former Women's International Ma Li scored in the opening match, becoming the first in the history of the Women's World Cup.
Since then, the girls of the Chinese women's football team have been out of control.
Over the past 32 years, we have witnessed the seven World Cups of the Chinese women's football team. Among them, there are both the glory of creating history and the darkest setbacks, but the Chinese women's football team has been "fighting".
In 2021, after helping the Chinese women's football team get the "ticket" to the Tokyo Olympics, Chinese women's football player Wang Shuang said:
Her passionate post-match interview was also included in the "Golden Sentence of the Week" section of the official website news, and she was also selected with the well-known star Neymar.
In the final of the 2022 Asian Cup, Chinese women's footballer Wang Xiaoxue "flew to block the gun's eye" in stoppage time and blocked the must-score of the South Korean women's football team, Wang Xiaoxue recalled the scene at that time:
Today, before the start of the 2023 Women's World Cup, Shui Qingxia, the head coach of the Chinese women's football team, said:
Never give up
On the evening of February 6, 2022, the Chinese women's football team played against the South Korean women's football team to compete for the Asian Cup championship.
Trailing 2-0 in the first half, he scored two goals in the 68 to 72 minutes of the second half to tie the game before winning the title 3-2.
Zhang Linyan, a female footballer and later transferred to Wuhan Women's Football, first helped the Chinese team create a penalty, then scored an equalizer with a header, and also participated in the final goal, and finally helped the Chinese women's football team reach the top of Asia after 16 years!
After the game, Zhang Linyan held the five-star red flag and said with tears in her eyes:
This is not the first time that the Chinese women's football team has turned against the wind.
On the afternoon of April 13, 2021, the Chinese women's football team fought back after trailing by two goals at half-time, eliminating the South Korean team with an aggregate score of 4:3 to get the last ticket to the Tokyo Olympics in Asia.
In the post-match interview, Wang Shuang said excitedly:
Jia Xiuquan, then head coach of the Chinese women's football team, summed up the road to the Olympics and said:
Solidarity
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the Chinese women's football team won the runner-up.
As one of them, Shui Qingxia still recalls her career as an athlete with great emotion:
Solidarity and cooperation have always been the tradition of Chinese women's football.
After winning the 2022 Asian Cup, Wang Shanshan, captain of the Chinese women's football team and the best player in the Asian Cup, said after the game:
In today's women's national team, Chinese women's footballer Wu Haiyan calls Wang Shuang "I Shuang"; At the same time, she also formed the "Steel Sister Flower" with Wang Shanshan, Wang Shanshan is the "Steel Brother", Wu Haiyan is the "Iron Sister"... This kind of teammate can be seen everywhere in the team.
One by one, she formed a united them, and they also made her look more cute.
Wu Haiyan said:
Wang Shuang said:
Let's cheer for the girls!
Source: Dayang.com