According to the plan, China's women's soccer team, in preparation for the second stage of the Asian zone of the women's soccer qualifying tournament for the Paris Olympics, will play two teaching matches with the local men's soccer team of the 2007/2008 age group in Xiamen on the 17th and 20th of this month. As the eighth overseas player in the Chinese women's training squad, 24-year-old striker Tu Linli will arrive in Xiamen today and join the team.
In preparation for the second phase of the Olympic preliminaries, the Chinese women's soccer team refocused its efforts in the city of Xiamen on the 11th of this month. With many of the foreign international players currently competing with their club teams in their respective leagues, only 18 players participated in this initial phase of training, including three players who did not participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games: Wang Yanwen, Zhuo Magi and Wan Jiayao. Zhuo Magi is an absolute newcomer to the team for the first time.
Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned that, combined with the reality that China's women's soccer team suffered setbacks in the 9th Women's World Cup and Hangzhou Asian Games women's soccer tournament, China's women's soccer team decided to reuse overseas international players in the upcoming Olympic Games preliminaries. Wang Frost, Zhang Linyan, Li Mengwen, Wu Chengshu, Uri Gumura and Shen Mengyu, who participated in the Hangzhou Asian Games, will return home to meet with the national team from the 21st of this month to complete this stage of the league or cup on behalf of their respective clubs. Head coach Shui Qingxia has also recruited two other study abroad international players. They are Shen Mengyu, who works for Celtic FC in the Scottish Premier League and Brezabrik FC in the Icelandic Premier League, and another attacker, Tu Linli.
Tu Linli helped the FHL club to a fifth place finish in the league, and as the Golden Boot winner in the Icelandic Women's First Division last season, she then officially moved to the Ice Superliga club Keflavik. This summer, she joined Icelandic Premier League club Brezablik on loan and finished second in the league with the team. The Ice Super League for women's soccer teams reportedly ends on October 7th. According to the plan, she should leave the U.S. to return to China on Oct. 15 local time and meet up with the Chinese women's soccer team on the 16th Beijing time.
In this way, eight overseas players will take part in the second phase of the Paris Olympic Qualifier, which will start later this month. In fact, participating in the Olympic qualifiers is very helpful for national team players to improve their abilities. Take Tu Linli as an example, since her transfer to Brezabulik FC this summer, she has not been playing much due to the team's coaching change. Tu is currently playing in the Women's Ice Super League, but due to the small size of the league and the high turnover of personnel, she does not rule out the possibility of moving to other overseas clubs in the future. If she can perform well in the Olympic qualifiers, she will certainly attract the interest of more high-level clubs.
Sources revealed that the Chinese women's soccer team plans to play two warm-up matches against the local Xiamen men's soccer team of 2007/2008 age group on the 17th and 20th. Most probably, Tu Linli will be the representative of the women's soccer team.
