Women's soccer prepares for East Asian Cup and subsequent tournaments
According to the plan, China's women's football team has been training in Qingdao for more than a month, and is expected to depart from Qingdao with China's U23 men's football team on July 17 on a chartered flight to Nagoya, Japan, to take part in the East Asian Cup Football Championship. Although China's women's soccer team won the Women's Asian Cup in February, it is understood that the CFA did not put forward detailed performance requirements for the women's soccer team to participate in this visit. The team's goal is to "work hard, accumulate experience in international matches, and lay a solid foundation for the Asian Games and next year's World Cup".
In order to do a good job in the new cycle of preparation for major tournaments, China's women's soccer team plans to fly directly from Japan to the United States on July 28, the day after the end of the East Asian Cup, followed by no less than 10 warm-up matches with the U.S. Women's Professional Soccer League team during the 4 to 5 weeks of training. In addition to Tang Jiali, who has recently returned to China, Shen Menglu, Shen Mengyu, Yang Shuhui, Zhao Yujie, and Tu Linli, five players who play for overseas clubs, will also join the team directly in the United States.
On June 11, China's women's soccer team regrouped in Qingdao City to prepare for the new East Asian Cup soccer tournament to be held in Japan in late July. Although the organizing committee of the East Asian Cup tournament has made detailed restrictions on the number of player quotas for each participating team, as many as 35 players still appeared at the training site of China's women's football team in Qingdao. This is due to the fact that China's women's soccer team will also go to the United States for training and competition after participating in the East Asian Cup.
As the winner of this year's Women's Asian Cup, what are the goals of our women's soccer team for this trip to the east? Beijing Youth Daily reporter was informed that the CFA from the perspective of supporting and cooperating with the team's preparation for the new cycle, and did not put forward detailed requirements for the women's soccer team's performance or rankings for this visit, but this does not mean that the team has no goals to strive for. It is understood that the next, China's women's football preparation will focus on playing the Asian Games Women's Football Tournament and the next year's World Cup, so the current East Asia Cup as the team to impact the above two major competitions of the most important practice. "The goal of the team's trip to the East Asian Games is to accumulate experience in international matches and to lay a solid foundation for the Asian Games and the World Cup.
It is also due to the significant preparation for the Asian Games and the World Cup that our women's soccer team has executed a series of overseas training and warm-up programs with the strong support of the Chinese Football Association (CFA). According to the plan, the team will fly directly from Japan to the United States on July 28, followed by 4 to 5 weeks of training in the United States. Although affected by the "schedule conflict" between the two teams, it is difficult for China's women's soccer team to warm up directly with the U.S. women's soccer team. But in the United States, the team will still participate in 10 to 15 warm-up matches, most of the opponents for the U.S. women's professional Major League Soccer team. In this way, the quality of warm-up matches will be fully guaranteed.
Considering that the next stage of the tournament and training cycle is long, the head coach Shui Qingxia decided to take as many players as possible to the tour. In addition to the 35 players who have already arrived for training, six players who play for overseas clubs will also be arriving.
However, of the six, only Tang Jiali, who played for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur last season, is with the team for the East Asian Cup. It is understood that Tang Jiali has basically confirmed her departure from Tottenham Hotspur for a transfer at the end of the European club's 2021 to 2022 season. Recently, she has flown to Chengdu from London, England. After receiving the necessary medical isolation observation in accordance with the epidemic prevention regulations, Tang Jiali will return home to briefly reunite with her relatives. She will then travel to Qingdao in early July to join our women's soccer team.
The other five players playing for overseas clubs, Shen Mengyu (Celtic), Zhao Yujie (University of Florida), Yang Shuhui (Suvayo), Tu Linli (Icelandic FHL), and Shen Menglu (Euron Athletic) will join the team's larger group directly in the United States at the end of July.
It is reported that the entry point of our women's soccer team in the United States is likely to be Los Angeles or San Francisco. The CFA has been assisting the team in the recent visit. Although affected by the visit, the new phase of the Women's Super League will not take place until October. However, being able to participate in the East Asia Cup consecutively and going to the U.S. to participate in a number of warm-ups, the quality and efficiency of the preparation for the new cycle of China's women's soccer team will be significantly improved. It can also be seen that the CFA's support for women's soccer is no less than the support for men's soccer. And this is actually an important support for the women's soccer team to continue to develop in a virtuous cycle.
