The 14th National Games Women's Soccer Adult Division got off to an exciting start with the Olympic Combined Team defeating hosts Shaanxi
The adult women's soccer tournament of the 14th National Games kicked off late this afternoon, with the Olympic Combined Team narrowly defeating hosts Shaanxi in their opening match, 1-0.
On September 16th, the 14th National Games women's football adult group competitive feast officially opened, the Olympic United team and Shaanxi team started a fierce battle.
A total of eight teams participated in this year's Women's National Games Adult Division, which was divided into two groups, A and B. Group A included Olympic United, Shaanxi, Jiangsu and Liaoning, while Shandong, Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan were together in Group B. The teams played in Group B, which was divided into two groups. The tournament began with group cross-qualifying matches, followed by inter-group cross-qualifying matches to finalize the rankings.
Given the poor performance of our women's soccer team in the Tokyo Olympics, only 1 draw and 2 losses, Jia Xiuquan is facing a crisis of dismissal. The CFA urgently appointed Shanghai women's football boss, China's women's football celebrity Shui Qingxia as the temporary head coach of the Olympic joint team, leading the team to participate in the Games.
Since returning home from the Tokyo Olympics, our women's soccer team has been assembled in Shaanxi for training and is competing in this National Games as a joint Olympic team. If it wins the championship, the unit that sends international players to the Olympic joint team will be awarded a gold medal for women's soccer in the Games.
In today's opening match, Shui Qingxia led the first appearance of the joint Olympic team. In the starting lineup, Shui retained two starters in Wang Frost and Wang Shanshan, while almost all other players were replaced compared to the Tokyo Olympics.
The goalkeeper is veteran Ding Xuan, the four defenders are Wang Ying, Li Mengwen, Wang Xiaoxue and Zhang Xin, the four forwards are Wang Yan, Yang Lina, Wang Shuang and Miao Shiwen, and the forward line is a partnership between Wang Shanshan and Xiao Yuyi.
At the beginning of the match, Olympic United had a slight advantage led by Wang Frost, but the host team Shaanxi was so strong that the two sides were at a stalemate. Until the 36th minute, Wang Frost opened a set piece on the right side of the penalty area, and Wang Yan scored at the top of the back post to give Olympic United a 1-0 lead in the first half.
In the 62nd minute of the second half, Wang Shuang's corner kick to the penalty area, Wang Shanshan goal header, but was interfered by the opposing goalkeeper, the ball hit the crossbar. In the 79th minute, Zhang Xin sent a direct ball from the middle of the road, and Miao Shiwen pushed the ball into the goal, but the referee raised his flag to indicate that she was offside first, so the goal was invalid.
Starting from the 69th minute, Olympic United began to change players, with attackers such as Wang Frost, Wang Shanshan, Xiao Yuyi, and Miao Shiwen being replaced one after another, and Shui Qingxia apparently trying out a second lineup. The two sides formed an even situation on the field, but Olympic United did not have the physical advantage, instead, they were nearly broken by Shaanxi's several counterattacks.
In the 86th minute, Olympic United goalkeeper Ding Xuan made a mistake out of the backfield, and Yan Yingying took a shot at the goal, but it went over the crossbar. In the 93rd minute, Shaanxi Women's Soccer almost equalized the score by using a set piece opportunity. In the end, Olympic United won 1-0 against Shaanxi.
From the first game, Shui Qingxia has a deeper understanding of the domestic women's soccer situation, and there is a clear difference in the deployment and use of personnel compared to the Jia Xiuquan era.
Olympic Union will face the winner of the second round of the group between Jiangsu and Liaoning, and will advance directly to the semifinals if they can win two consecutive group games.
