The drums of war are beating, the Olympic feast has not yet begun, but the competitive feast of women's soccer has been staged in advance.
Our women's soccer team's Olympic ticket was not easy to come by. After a fierce battle with the South Korean women's soccer team, with tenacity, they won without any danger.
However, when they step onto the Olympic field, the real test has just begun.
Facing such strong opponents as Holland, Brazil and Zambia (international rankings of 4, 7 and 104 respectively), China's women's soccer team will not only have to win over Zambia, but also have to create a miracle in Holland or Brazil, the difficulty of which is self-evident.
In yesterday afternoon's group match, our women's soccer team faced Brazilian women's soccer team.
Despite the fact that our women's soccer team has no advantage in terms of power rankings and international head-to-head records (we are ranked 15th and Brazil is ranked 7th), the last time we beat Brazil was in the Atlanta Olympics 25 years ago!
Unfortunately, captain Wu Haiyan missed the match due to injury, with Wang Shuang and Wang Shanshan taking the starting lineup.
On the Brazilian side, 35-year-old Marta and 43-year-old Formiga lead the way, slightly older but still strong.
Only 9 minutes into the game, our women's soccer team lost the goal. Brazil's quick counterattack, Marta received a header from a teammate, the ball hit the frame, Marta added a shot into the net, 1-0!
Brazil extended their lead after 12 minutes. Peng Mengshi defused an attacking crisis, but after the ball was parried, Debinha picked up the ball and scored to make it 2-0.
Although our women's soccer team also had chances to equalize the score, Wang Frost and Miao Shiwen's shots were both blocked by the opponents.
In the second half, our women's soccer team didn't have many chances to counterattack, and many shots were blocked by the goal post.
Brazil, on the other hand, kept up their hot streak from the first half, scoring again in the 74th, 80th and 89th minutes.
The final whistle blew and the score was fixed at 0-5, our women's soccer team suffered a disastrous defeat.
Despite the strength of the Brazilian team, our women's soccer team lost by a score of 0-5, a result that is hard to accept.
After the match, head coach Jia Xiuquan was under tremendous pressure.
The domestic media's skepticism of Jia Xiuquan focuses on three main points:
For one, the tournament practiced new recruits, and fans couldn't get enough of right guard junior Ching-Tung Lee's turnovers;
Secondly, the lineup is unreasonable, Wang Frost moved from the best position forward to the side, unable to play advantage;
Thirdly, the front line is powerless, and the good attacker Tang Jiali failed to be selected for the national team, making the women's soccer team lack a sharp edge in the attack.
All in all, our women's soccer team is in a tough group situation, and the team needs to adjust its form in time for the upcoming matches against Zambia and the Netherlands.
Pressure turns into power! Clanging roses, charge!
