Women's soccer at the Games ends in glory
The 14th National Games Football Women's Adult Group Tournament came to a successful conclusion in Xi'an on the night of the 25th, and our joint women's football team, relying on the light of the Tokyo Olympic Gold Medal, successfully reached the top with a narrow 1:0 victory over the Shanghai team. In the fierce competition that lasted 18 matches, the perseverance and fighting spirit of the women's soccer girls inspired the great enthusiasm of the fans at the scene. Inside and outside the stadium, the discussion of "expectations" became the focus.
Grateful Fans Never Abandon
Tokyo Olympics came to an end, China's women's soccer team in the end of the isolation of the rapid assembly to prepare for the Games, by the Atlanta Olympics silver medalist Shui Qingxia to take the helm of the joint team coaching whip.
At one point in the group stage of this year's Games, Union trailed Jiangsu in the match, only to complete the comeback in the second half.
Shui Qingxia emphasized that the road to soccer is full of bumps and bruises, and when trailing at half-time, the women's soccer team's belief is to never give up. By grasping the details, the situation and the result will be transformed.
"For our women's soccer team, pressure is part of life. We not only have to learn to face difficulties, but also learn to enjoy the joy of life, and I think we can have both." Shui Qingxia said.
Hosts Shaanxi team in this tournament for three consecutive games suffered a penalty shootout, young goalkeeper Liu Qing in the two penalty shootout pounced on five penalty kicks, becoming a real "penalty kicks goal God".
"Thank you to the fans for their chants and support on the field." Liu Qing said, "All my teammates fought until the last second on the field to create the opportunity for me to play my specialty. We leave no stone unturned and go all out to fight every competition."
Shaanxi women's soccer team achieved a historic third place in this year's tournament. Head coach Liu Huana said that regardless of the score on the field, as long as the game is not over, she, her coaching staff and players will not give up.
The Rose of Hope is ahead.
"We all support the women's soccer girls." These were the words most shouted to the women's soccer girls by the volunteers, staff and fans on the field, whose smiling eyes could be seen clearly despite the masks.
Tokyo Olympic Games, although the failure to return, compared with the international advanced level, China's women's soccer still has a certain gap. However, through the Games women's soccer tournament combing, many "95" "00" young players have been in their respective teams to assume a major role.
Expectation is the power of women's soccer to catch up.
Wang Frost, a member of the United team and a former player for the Paris Saint-Germain women's soccer team in Ligue 1, delivered a number of assists in this year's tournament. She said our women's soccer team is still a young team. "I hope everyone is paying attention to the women's soccer tournament at the National Games, and will also continue to pay attention to our Women's Premier League and Women's First League."
Cui Kai, 19, is a sophomore at the Xi'an Sports Institute, and as a volunteer at the Games, he and many of his classmates volunteered at the Shaanxi Provincial Stadium.
"Even though I'm not a fan, I feel like I'm moving closer to being a fan." Choi said that rain or shine, you can feel that the girls on each team are working hard. "I think that is what impresses me as a non-fan, and I think there is hope for women's soccer that struggles like that."
Shui Qingxia said that in the past, the starting point of China's women's soccer is very high, and people have been looking at women's soccer at the level of the Olympics and the top few in the World Cup. "Precisely because the starting point is high, so the fans will demand and expect more from us. I think for the team, this is both pressure and motivation. Above some details, we can do better, I think women's soccer is still very hopeful."
Strengthening the foundation of the road is a long way to go
A number of interviewed insiders believe that women's soccer back to the peak, need more than just time. The revival of women's football needs to strengthen the construction and training of the youth team, solve the dilemma of the women's professional football league, revitalize the delivery of talent at the source, and allow good seedlings to grow through training in the game.
In this year's tournament, the hosts Shaanxi team's play was a sight to behold, as the girls lost the opening match to the United team by one goal, beat Liaoning and a strong Jiangsu team on penalties, lost to a weak Shanghai team on penalties in the semi-finals, and then beat the Beijing team to finally collect the bronze medal.
Liu Huana introduced that in the past, there were only one or two teams in Shaanxi women's soccer. "In recent years, Shaanxi women's soccer has established four consecutive women's soccer teams, and the talent pool has improved significantly over the past."
Throughout the international women's football competitions in recent years, the power and speed have been progressing, and the "women's football masculinization" style of play, which makes it more difficult for the competition to pass and control, has become the mainstream of the development of the international women's football movement.
Wang Frost believes that the playing style of strong foreign teams that emphasize full-field pressing, high-speed offensive and defensive transformation and high-intensity confrontation all indicate that the development of women's soccer has reached a watershed after the Tokyo Olympics. "I think our women's soccer team is relatively young and needs more time and more high-quality competitions to train and then realize progress."
Luo Le, a teacher in the Department of Social Sports at Beijing University of Chemical Technology's College of Arts and Law, believes that both the national team's performance and the level of women's soccer's domestic professional league, if you want to effectively improve, you have to improve under the premise of conforming to the law of development of the soccer game.
"To improve the level and overall quality of women's soccer, in addition to the sports sector, it is more necessary for the education sector to make an effort. Starting from the dolls, expanding the 'population base' of women's soccer, so that girls in middle and elementary school are willing to play soccer and love to play soccer, which requires the relevant departments and the whole society to change from bit by bit." Luo Le said.
