Source: Beijing Sports Reporter Zhao Xiaosong
On the evening of February 22, the Chinese women's soccer team, which is training in Spain, played a warm-up match with the Irish women's soccer team, which ended up in mutual exchanges between the two teams. So far, the Chinese women's soccer team's record of four warm-up matches is two wins, one draw and one loss. By playing against European national teams and musical forces, the Chinese women's soccer team also saw the gap.
The last war once again revealed a shortcoming
The Chinese women's soccer team began training in Spain on February 10th. In less than two weeks, the team arranged four warm-up matches to maximize the use of the game to "fill the gap". The four games included two matches against women's La Liga clubs and two European teams against Sweden and Ireland.
The Chinese women's soccer team won all their matches against Real Betis and Huelva Sports. In the first training session against the former, the girls came from behind to win 2-1; against the latter, the Chinese team, which rotated its squad heavily, still won 4-0.
Warming up to Sweden and Ireland, two teams also preparing for the Women's World Cup, showed China its problems and the gap between them and the stronger teams.Losing 1-4 to the Scandinavian team, ranked third in the world, the Chinese women's soccer team was completely behind in terms of individual ability, technique and tactical level. Last night, China competed against Ireland, ranked 23rd in the world. While the Chinese team dominated in offensive technical statistics such as ball possession and shots on goal, it once again exposed its physical disparity with European and American teams. On offense, players often lost the ball after physical confrontations. On defense, the Irish team could create a threat with simple high shots, and in the first half they matched headers hitting the crossbar.
All the World Cup opponents have been confirmed
Wang Shuang and Tang Jiali did not participate in this training, but many of the "overseas" players performed well in the warm-up matches of this training. Li Mengwen, who plays for the "Grand Paris" women's soccer team, is not only a stable defender, but also makes use of precise passes to create threats in the attack. She assisted Xiaoyuyi in the only goal between Chinese women's football team and Sweden; Yang Lina, who plays for Levante Las Planas in Liga MX, is good at organizing the midfield attack and the match with Ireland. After coming on as a substitute in the second half, China's midfield play and ball control improved significantly.
Just as China's women's soccer team is actively warming up and preparing for war, their opponents in the group stage of this year's Women's World Cup have all been determined. In the World Cup qualifying playoffs held on the morning of February 22, the Haitian women's soccer team defeated the Chilean women's soccer team 2-1 and entered Group D with China, England and Denmark. A number of players in this Haitian team play for the Women's Ligue 1, with Dumona deserving special attention for scoring two goals against Chile. The 19-year-old youngster has outstanding physical qualities and was named the most promising rising star in women's soccer by foreign media last year.
"From the video, (the Haitian team) still has strong individual ability and is very distinctive, so we have to make some full preparations later on." Chinese women's soccer head coach Shui Qingxia told the media after Haiti's advancement that the three group matches will be an uphill battle. In the group stage of this year's Women's World Cup, the Chinese women's soccer team will first face the Danish women's soccer team on July 22, then face the Haitian women's soccer team on July 28, and finally challenge the "seeded team", last year's Women's European Championship winners, England, on August 1st.
According to the arrangement, the Chinese women's soccer team will return home on the evening of February 23rd in Beijing time. The international players will return to their respective teams to prepare for the upcoming Women's Super League season.
