The Chinese women's football team suffered serious injuries before warming up with the United States, and training newcomers will become an important task in the next two years
After a long trip of more than 24 hours, the Chinese women's football team flew to Miami, the United States at more than 5 pm local time on November 29 (more than 6 am Beijing time on the 30th) to prepare for the two international A-level warm-up matches with the US women's football team on the afternoon of December 2 (early morning of the 3rd Beijing time) and the evening of the 5th (the morning of the 6th Beijing time). It is understood that before the Chinese women's football team set off, the main left-back Chen Qiaozhu suffered a ligament injury during training, and the coaching staff temporarily decided to recruit Liu Yanqiu into the team. In addition, in the absence of Yang Lina and Wu Chengshu due to injuries respectively, the coaching staff has recruited Shen Menglu from the Suzhou Super League Celtic Women's Football Club to join the team. I have to say that the Chinese women's football team suffered from serious injuries at the beginning of a new round of "upgrading".
After the Paris Olympics in early November, the Chinese women's football team fell into the embarrassing situation of having no major tournament to play in the next two years. Of course, from another point of view, the Chinese women's football team has also gained enough time to consolidate its foundation and speed up the replacement of personnel. After confirming that it will not renew the contract with the original team coach Shui Qingxia, the Chinese Football Association can also use this "gap period" to carefully select a suitable new coach for the team.
Since the Chinese women's football team has been preparing for the Paris Olympics competition, the team's training and warm-up plans are also designed and implemented around this goal. It was against this background that the plans for the two warm-up matches of the Chinese and American women's football teams at the beginning of this month were finalized by the two football associations.
It is also considering that the Chinese women's football team is about to enter a critical period of replacement between the old and the new, and the selection of the new coach cannot be rushed, the Chinese Football Association decided to select the current U20 national youth women's football coach Wang Jun and others to form a temporary coaching staff to lead the Chinese women's football team to visit the United States. The coaching staff recruited a number of young players, including four main players of the U20 national youth women's football team, with the intention of scouting new talents, while also taking into account the development of the backbone of the U20 women's football team in the final stage of next year's U20 Women's Asian Cup.
A total of 21 players have been selected for the new Chinese women's football training squad, of which 15 are from domestic women's football clubs and 6 players from overseas clubs. However, as one of the main players of the team to participate in this year's World Cup, Olympic preliminaries, and Hangzhou Asian Games, defender Yang Lina was unable to participate in the Xianghe training camp due to physical reasons. Attacker Wu Chengshu was injured in the women's Ligue 1 match 10 days ago and was also confirmed to be unable to participate in this training camp. In addition, the main left-back Chen Qiaozhu unfortunately suffered a ligament injury during the Xianghe training camp with the team and had to withdraw from the training camp. In this case, the coaching staff decided to recruit Shen Menglu, an attacking player from the Celtic Club of the Suzhou Super League, and Liu Yanqiu, a full-back from Wuhan Jiangda Club, respectively. In the end, a total of 20 players participated in two international warm-up matches in the United States. Players from overseas clubs rushed directly to the United States to join the team on the 29th.
Early in the morning of December 1, Beijing time, women's football international Wang Yanwen posted a picture of the team's safe arrival in the United States through her personal social platform. In fact, the team flew to Miami, USA as early as 5 p.m. local time on November 29 and 6 a.m. Beijing time on November 30. However, from the early morning of the 29th Beijing time, from Beijing, to Doha to transit, and finally to Miami, the whole team experienced a journey of more than 24 hours, and the team members spent a long flight in the economy class of ordinary civil aviation, and their fatigue can be imagined. A team insider commented: "There is no way, only this route can ensure that the whole journey of baggage check-in is not tossed." Nothing to complain about. ”
It is understood that after the whole team arrived in the United States, they conducted recovery training later that day. According to the schedule, the Chinese women's football team will play the first meeting with the United States women's football team at 3 p.m. local time on December 2 (4 a.m. Beijing time on the 3rd) at Rackhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that is, the home of Messi's Miami International Club, and the second warm-up match between the two teams this month will be played at 8 p.m. local time on December 5 (9 a.m. Beijing time on the 6th) at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Compared with the low-key visit of the Chinese women's football team, the United States Football Association and the United States women's football team paid much more attention to this game. At present, the U.S. Football Association has marked the schedule of the warm-up match between China and the United States women's football team in the most prominent position on its official website, and its homepage also distributed a photo of Chinese women's football striker Zhang Linyan during this year's Women's World Cup, and attached a lot of important information about the warm-up between the two sides, including the record of the Chinese and American women's football team and the recent situation of the Chinese women's football team. It can be seen that the U.S. women's football team attaches great importance to these two warm-up games.
It has to be said that the Chinese women's football team, which has just finished the mission of the last major tournament cycle, is currently at a low ebb, and in terms of strength, it is difficult for them to compete with a world powerhouse like the United States. But it is precisely because they are no longer under the pressure of the heavy responsibilities of the tournament that this young Chinese women's football team can give it a go. Before the team set off, the Chinese Football Association encouraged the whole team to calm down and fight with the opponent with a learning attitude. Warming up with a strong team like the United States team is actually very beneficial to the "little flowers" of the Chinese women's football team to improve their actual combat skills and ability to withstand pressure.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Yun