With the Women's World Cup qualifying playoffs underway, China's Women's World Cup group stage opponents have finally settled.
The Haitian women's soccer team defeated the Chilean women's soccer team 2-1 in a playoff on Feb. 22 and will be in Group D with the Chinese women's soccer team.
The Haitian women's soccer team advanced to the final round of the World Cup.
Earlier, according to the draw results, the Chinese women's soccer team has decided to be the opponent of the group stage with the British women's soccer team and the Danish women's soccer team. Facing the two European teams, the main goal of the Chinese team is to advance to the group stage.
The 2023 Women's World Cup will have 32 teams competing for the first time after the expansion, but with the expansion, there is no longer a chance to finish third in the group as before, and you have to finish in the top two of the group in order to advance, which is undoubtedly a tough challenge for the Chinese team.
Among them, England is the European Championship winner of the new women's soccer team, one of the favorites to win the World Cup, and definitely stronger than the Chinese team. Although Denmark is not a strong team in Europe, it has some strength in its longstanding rivalry with European teams, and China cannot afford to take it lightly.
Shui Qingxia, head coach of the Chinese women's soccer team, said in an interview, "The two European teams must be higher than us in terms of strength and tactical literacy."
Especially against England Women's Football, "To be honest, there's a big gap between us and them, but unfortunately we got together. There are a lot of possibilities and we'll be worried about not getting blown away, but soccer has to go through tough matches."
It is not difficult to see that in this case, in order to qualify for the group, in addition to trying to score points against England and Denmark women's soccer teams, the Haitian women's soccer team has become a must-beat opponent for the Chinese women's soccer team.
In the current FIFA world rankings, the Chinese women's soccer team is ranked 14th, England and Denmark are ranked 4th and 18th, and the Haitian women's soccer team is ranked 55th, the lowest ranked team in the group.
This will be the first time in history that the Haitian women's soccer team will be on the World Cup stage, but as a newcomer to the World Cup, the Haitian women's desire to win should not be underestimated.
Meanwhile, the Haitian team also has players who play in Ligue 1, such as Dimonay and Borghela, and the team features a strong offense.
To win, the Chinese women's soccer team will have to be careful to avoid a repeat of the 4-4 draw with Zambia at the Tokyo Olympics.
