As night falls on the capital, the Chinese women's soccer team ushered in a highly anticipated first match of the Asian Cup group stage against Chinese Taipei on the 20th. After the heavy blow of the Olympic Games, the new Chinese women's soccer team returned to the international arena with a lineup of old, middle-aged and young players. Facing Chinese Taipei for the first time, the coaching team is likely to arrange for a veteran-led lineup to play in order to ensure stability. However, the absence of key defense players such as Wu Haiyan and Lin Yuping, as well as the loss of Peng Simeng, has made the performance of the backline in this year's Asian Cup a focus of attention.
Looking back at the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese team achieved only one draw in the group stage, lost two consecutive matches and conceded 17 goals, and the overall performance of the backline was disappointing. After Shui Qingxia took over as the head coach of the Chinese women's soccer team, strengthening the back line became the team's top priority. Although veteran captain Wu Haiyan was unable to accompany the team to India due to injury, and Lin Yuping did not make the final 23-player roster, the national team still needs to rely on Olympic veteran Wang Xiaoxue in the backline, supplemented by Li Jiayue of the Shanghai women's soccer team. In the right back position, veteran Lou Jiahui is expected to start, while the left back position may be taken up by Li Mengwen. As for the goalkeepers, Peng Shimeng failed to make the team due to a decline in form, and Xu Huan is expected to be Shui Qingxia's first choice. Although Xu Huan is in stable form, she is still inexperienced in big games compared to Peng Shimeng.
The performance of such a new and old backline in this Asian Cup is still unpredictable. Affected by the epidemic, the women's soccer team has not been able to arrange official warm-up matches during the training period, so the tacit understanding between the players and the overall cooperation still needs to be tested in the game.
In the midfield, the Chinese team has many powerful players, the captain of the front line, Wang Shanshan, will undoubtedly occupy a starting position, and Tang Jiali, who has just returned from the English Premier League, is also likely to become the starting partner Wang Shanshan. On the left and right sides of the midfield, Wang Shanshan and Zhang Xin will be responsible for the offensive organization, and on the back position, Zhang Rui is expected to lock the starting position, while another center forward will be produced between Yao Wei and Yang Lina. (Sohu Sports Pei Li)
Expected starting lineup: 4-4-2 Xu Huan; Li Mengwen, Li Jiayue, Wang Xiaoxue, Lou Jiahui; Zhang Rui, Yang Lina, Zhang Xin, Wang Shuang; Wang Shanshan, Tang Jiali
