At 23:00 on August 1, it was less than 10 degrees Celsius at the New Demarche Stadium. a dazzling 1-6 on the LED screen made the blessed land of the Chinese women's soccer team a thing of the past.
Regarding the fiasco, Chinese women's soccer head coach Shui Qingxia first thanked the players for their efforts, expressed what they needed to summarize, and repeatedly emphasized one sentence:
"I hope more little girls will participate in soccer in the future."
A few short words that tell the truth behind the score.
soccer population
After the match, a senior women's soccer practitioner told us a set of data, "The number of registered domestic women's soccer players is currently around 8,000. Our rival England is 1.8 million." This year's Women's FA Cup Final in England had an audience of 77,390. Due to the competition system, there were zero spectators at the Chinese Women's FA Cup Final.
On the pitch, Chinese fans saw an equal duel of 11 men, but behind the scenes was the difference between thousands and millions of pyramid systems.
How competitive is it to pick 23 out of 8,000 versus 23 out of 1.8 million? How big is the pool of talent left for domestic soccer? One look and you'll see.
Before the match started, I interviewed England fans on camera and asked them to predict the score. The fans in front of the camera hesitated for a long time, but the fans off-camera shouted straight away, "Chinese women's soccer team 0-7."
At that moment, I just thought they were a bit arrogant. "How can China, fourth in the world and 14th in the world, who conceded one goal in their first two games, lose by so much? In addition, you averaged one goal per game and hurt four key players."
When the final whistle blew, as England fans would say, their team scored seven goals, including an offside goal.
It wasn't until insiders talked about the comparison between 80 million and 1.8 million that it suddenly struck me that the 1-6 score was so reasonable. If we are lucky to win or draw, is it unfair to the regions that work by the rules and have their feet on the ground to develop women's soccer?
With a population of 1.3 billion, it is unimaginable that women's soccer has a registered population of a few thousand.
In past interviews, I've asked an international player, "Now that you have a daughter, would you consider letting her play soccer?"
He replied firmly, "No, the girls must learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and not touch soccer or even professional soccer."
Many Chinese professional women soccer players, who could almost go pro, come from pure love and affection, and most of their initial soccer initiation has nothing to do with their parents, which tends to be the opposite of men's soccer players. Instead, their parents occasionally discourage them when they love soccer and are determined to become professional players.
Everything is inferior, only high reading. If soccer can be linked to education and help with future higher education, some parents will be willing to let their daughters participate, otherwise they can only rely on their children's subjective initiative or enlightenment coaches to come to the vast ocean and fish out these jade stones that are about to sink to the bottom of the sea.
Therefore, China's women's soccer team would like to return to the level of a first-rate powerhouse in international competitions, the Olympics and the World Cup, instead of being pulled too far away from the world. The only way out is to get more girls into soccer. That's what insiders call the "foundation".
Team Issues
So what is "this", naturally, is the big family of Chinese women's soccer.
In another press conference, England coach Wigman spoke about the tactics of the Chinese women's soccer team. "They had some forcing and pressing, threatening, but not sustained enough and then went back to the style of play they are used to."
In the match scene, we can often see Chinese women's soccer players in front of the ball desperately grabbing the ball, such as Lou Jiahui and Wu Chengshu. In contrast, England's high level of forcing is collective and lasts longer, which brings about more turnovers and ball transitions for the Chinese women's soccer team. Moments of offense and defense transition are often the peak times for scoring and conceding goals.
When I saw 32-year-old Lou Jiahui's legs cramp up in the 100th minute, no one was touched, no one pitied. This is a display of the spirit of women's soccer, but also the result of the accumulation of high-intensity running.
Unfortunately, there are too few players like Lou who continue to press the opposition.
So what is high intensity running? According to the women's soccer industry standard, over 19 kilometers per hour is high intensity running. The top teams in the world like England run about 800 meters of high intensity per capita per game and over 1,000 meters of high intensity per game.
The average high intensity running standard for the Chinese women's soccer team is about 600 meters. The best figure in the team is left back Chen Qiaozhu. Her high-intensity run can reach 900 meters, which is comparable to England's. That's why she is one of the candidates who can't play three games in the World Cup.
The level of high intensity running stats is a change of pace of play. England's women's soccer team runs better when they have the skill to do so. Naturally, they can control the game and even change the tempo at will until their opponents can't keep up. At that point, the Chinese women's soccer team will have less defense in place and the score will be disappointing.
In light of this shortcoming, as early as last winter's Hainan training, Shui Qingxia took 27 disciples through a rigorous training program. Tens of thousands of meters of training every day until the players eventually couldn't stand up and fell straight to the ground. Some of the high-intensity runs were usually only a few dozen or even a hundred meters for the players, who then slowly reached a level of two or three hundred meters. Players who were initially at two or three hundred meters could also reach about five or six hundred meters with all this training.
If some players can't even reach the most basic average level in the team, no matter how good their skills are, can they still make a difference on the field? It's like a Ferrari, no matter how good the engine is, the car can't run bikeshare even without oil.
For many coaches, players with ability and attitude are always their favorites, such as Zhang Linyan and Wang Shanshan. Shui Qingxia is no exception. But if one has ability without attitude and the other has attitude and tactical discipline, how would you choose if you are a coach?
1-6 is not the end of the day, and has been lying in the credit book of the past. Looking forward, not delusional joy in victory, not panic in defeat, the Chinese women's soccer team better tomorrow can come.
