On March 8, International Working Women's Day, the Chinese Women's U20 National Team defeated the Philippine U20 Women's Football Team 6-0 in the first stage of the U20 Asian Cup Qualifying Tournament in Vientiane, Laos, to enter the final. After the match, Wang Jun, Head Coach of China Women's U20 National Team, said, "Because the Philippines recruited 17 overseas players, we arranged the idea of starting after researching, and the result proved that we were on the right track."
Huo Yuexin scored in the 9th minute of the first half for the Chinese U20 women's soccer team, a good start that allowed the "Little Rose" to control the game. Zou Mengyao and Huo Yuexin then scored to end the first half 3-0. In the second half, Lu Jiayu, Ouyang Yuhuan and Qiao Ruiqi each scored a goal to make the score 6-0.
The tournament was the first stage of the new U20 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers. A total of 28 teams participated in the tournament, divided into 8 groups. The top players from each group will advance to the second stage of the qualifiers. In this group, the China U20 Women's soccer team was up against the Philippines, Hong Kong and hosts Laos.
According to the rules of the tournament, the eight teams advancing to the second stage will be divided into two groups, with the top two from each group advancing and then competing against hosts Uzbekistan, as well as the top three teams, Japan, North Korea and South Korea, in the final of the Women's U20 Asian Cup to be held in Uzbekistan in March next year.
Wang Jun, head coach of the women's U20 national team, had led the then China women's U20 team to the U20 Women's World Cup. Currently, Wang Shuang, Xiao Yuyi and Tang Jiali are all from the U20 women's national team.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Wang Jun said he hoped the team would showcase the style of young Asian women's soccer teams, "At the same time, I hope that the team will play with spirit and the level of technical and tactical skills it deserves to succeed in its set task."
After China beat the Philippines 6-0, head coach Wang Jun summarized, "The Philippines have a lot of overseas players, but this also means that they may have problems with their tacit understanding. We take this very seriously and have prepared well in advance. Today, the most important thing was the start. After the first goal, we took control and the players were more relaxed."
When asked about the preparation for the next game against Hong Kong, China, Wang Jun said, "The biggest challenge we may face in the next game is to break the intensive defense, so we have to fully cooperate with the attack in front of the field."
Answering questions from reporters at the "representative channel" of the First Session of the 14th National People's Congress, Shui Qingxia, head coach of the Chinese women's soccer team, said that the "spirit of women's soccer" in her mind is: "If you can get what you want easily, it's not called struggle. If you can easily get what you want, then it's not called a struggle. It's because we want to overcome difficulties that we should work harder and do better." For the "Little Roses" of the U20 National Team, the 6-0 start is just the beginning. While celebrating the best holiday gift, we should also remain vigilant. This is not the time to relax.
