Twelve years and counting, another round, the Chinese women's soccer team misses the Olympics again.
After creating countless chances in the second half and dominating scenarios and statistics, the Chinese women's soccer team's draw ended their own and their opponents' hopes of making it out of the tournament, staging a rare competitive sports homage.
Both sides stabbed each other for 90 minutes. After a long whistle, the scoreboard was 1-1. neither side lost, both sides lost. It only left Shui Qingxia's sigh of relief, countless tears of women's soccer girls and the realistic torture of who can replace Wang Shanshan.
At this moment, more than 20,000 fans yelled in unison, applauding the players who had emptied all the bullets in their chambers.
This result is not surprising.
Thanks to some of the people on this list and some of the things hidden behind it, it may explain today's loss of merit.
I. Employment
In the press conference after the match, a reporter asked some questions about overseas players. Without pointing out Tang Jiali, Shui Qingxia took the initiative to open the door to talk about her. Here, we intercepted some of Shui's comments about Tang Jiali.
"Maybe many of you are concerned about Carrie Tang. She is one of the study abroad players and a strong player. I hope they come back and do well."
From this speech, we can see that Shui Qingxia will not give up on powerful players, such as Wang Frost and Xiao Yuyi, without serious injuries and significant decline. Ordinary fans know what level Tang Jiali's strength is. As a Shui guide who has taken her for more than ten years, don't you know?
Among them, the directive suggestion of a certain high-ranking person became the key to the change of this big list. Originally, Tang Jiali and Zhang Xin were on Shui Qingxia's call-up list for the Olympics, but then they became another candidate. When he talked to an insider about this, he was confused. Later, the facts proved his suspicions. "Some people might not want to recruit her."
In a way, some of the players who appeared in these three games were not that Shui Qingxia wanted to use them, but that she had to use them. In each game, Shui Qingxia can only play the best cards when she is in a position to do so if some of the players appear, are seen by the leaders, or prove that they have taken on a great deal of responsibility on the field. For example, South Korea's second half, down the sides, penetrating through the middle and bombing high up the pitch. How long has it been since you've seen that kind of cooperation and offense? The never-give-up Chinese women's soccer team seems to be back.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
It's not the first time that this selection intervention has gradually permeated the entire coaching staff after the World Cup.
There is nothing wrong with these players that were drafted. Some of them really don't know that they were selected because of this way. But their appearances affect the team to a certain extent, resulting in other better players rarely playing and ultimately hurting the entire Chinese women's soccer team.
And in this Olympic qualifying tournament, the Chinese women's soccer team has geographical advantages but not the timing and people.
The first match of the group stage will face the strongest North Korea. Although the mysterious teacher has been away from the game for three years, there are still opponents for them to feed on. When they returned to the tournament stage, the familiar DPRK women's soccer team hadn't changed a bit. In their Hangzhou debut, the DPRK women's soccer team went straight to the Asian Games final, finishing second.
In contrast, the Chinese women's soccer team, with many studying abroad, can only assemble two days before the start of the game, and the exhausting boat ride and the grinding of a brand new lineup always makes Shui Qingxia's nerves tense. Some of the main force has not yet poured over, to face the battle of Tianwangshan. Winning the game to grasp the initiative of the line, losing the game to look at the face of the people.
In this case, the Chinese women's soccer team used to be able to rely on Wang Frost and Tang Jiali, but now they can't make it. Not only are they not available, but they are also experiencing the flu in a lineup that is not rich in matches, leading to fevers in four of the starters, including Wu Chengshu and Li Mengwen. Even if the athletes are in better shape and can recover in a day or two, they can't handle the density and intensity of this Wednesday.
And so on, the superposition of various factors, presented on the field can only be to North Korea helpless, to Thailand's lack of breakthrough, to South Korea's foregone conclusion.
II. Positioning
"Elimination isn't necessarily a bad thing right now. If you win today and are fortunate enough to advance, the expectations will certainly be raised indefinitely. When the time comes, if you lose by a big margin to Japan or Australia, how embarrassing the scene will be." An insider said.
His words are not without merit.
In October, the second place Shanghai Women's soccer team in the Women's Super League traveled to Japan for training. During their half-month stay in Tohoku, the Shanghai women's soccer team had a record of 1-1 Zagoya Ainobashi, 3-9 Nippon Television Beauties, and 1-9 Kanagawa Mobara. The first opponent was from Japan's second tier league, consisting mainly of college students. The last two opponents were the third and ninth place finishers from the first division league, with almost no active international players in attendance, and mostly young players from the post-00s.
Xiao Yuyi, Li Jiayue and the team's two foreigners played in all three warm-up matches, but still struggled to win.
The league is the basis for national team selection. The top two teams in the Women's Super League went to Japan and really saw the gap between Chinese and Japanese women's soccer at this stage. In the words of Li Jiayue, a former international player: "Behind on all fronts, we are in a sad situation! I don't know when we can really recognize our fundamental problems and make changes! Maybe I can't wait for this day."
Should the Chinese women's soccer team advance this time, there could be a sequel to the 1-6 at the World Cup in the final showdown next March.
Therefore, insiders say that missing the Paris Olympics was a wake-up call for many, so that executives and fans could see the true level of Chinese women's soccer. As Socrates said, the prerequisite for all actions should be to "know thyself".
Song Kai took office on the Chinese women's soccer team hopes, did not expect half a month later suffered a blow to the head, "China's women's soccer team must be out of the Olympic qualifiers!"
After winning the Asian Cup, Shui Qingxia talked more than once about a word highly associated with the championship - "luck". In other words, the Chinese women's soccer team winning the championship was more like a Danish fairy tale and Greek mythology, which is not normal in itself. It's just that there were so many pages on coaching and the spirit of women's soccer that the word ended up getting buried.
At that time, the reason why the Chinese women's soccer team was able to quickly get out of the fiasco of the Tokyo Olympics and complete the transition to the top of Asia was that, in addition to the coaches' and players' own efforts, it also required the coordinated planning of a certain leader sent from the higher-ups to the Football Association. Under his management, everyone in the team can fulfill their duties and do their best. The coach is responsible for selection, training and scheduling. The players only need to train and play, and the whole team is of one mind.
Soon after India won the cup, the leader left and the atmosphere of the team gradually changed. The Chinese women's soccer team seems to be going back to the past, to the middle and late stages of the past women's soccer coaches.
"History has proven that everything is easy to do as long as the Chinese don't compromise themselves." This famous quote from historical fiction is sometimes true of women's soccer. Coaches and players have never been the problem of Chinese women's soccer, but rather the distractions and temptations of others.
Now the wood has turned, and the Chinese women's soccer team spent the next two years back in what was once a familiar environment - with few people asking questions.
How much will this disappearing future affect Chinese women's soccer? Without high level playing experience, how far will the majority of Chinese women's soccer players be left behind by the increasingly fast developing world women's soccer? Will the Chinese women's soccer team still be able to fight a battle when we meet the real Japan-Australia again? In the meantime, will society's attention to women's soccer drop to freezing point? Will there be a sudden drop in the number of girls playing soccer? Will the league remain the same after sponsorships have moved away?
Time will give answers to these myriad questions.
As Luo Xiang said: "Cherish your lows and you will see many truths. All those who are willing to go through the times can go through the times. No one's life is smooth sailing. Suffering in the trough is to build up strength, to hold on to even the light that comes through the cracks, and then to have the courage to die. Please repeat, a thousand times a thousand save themselves by the thousands in the midst of fire and water."
