On the night of October 9, a fierce and intense women's AFC Champions League Group A third round match was held in Wuhan. Wuhan Chegu Jiangda Women's Football Team (hereinafter referred to as "Wuhan Women's Football Team"), as the home team, lost 0-2 against Hyundai Iron Red Angels of South Korea, failing to realize the early exit of the group. However, analyzing the table, they still have a good chance to reach the semi-finals!
Although Wuhan Women's Football Team didn't have a good performance in the AFC Champions League, especially losing to Abu Dhabi Country Women's Football Team of the United Arab Emirates 1-2 in the first round of the tournament, they swept Sabah of Malaysia 7-0 in the second round of the tournament. However, with Abu Dhabi and Hyundai Steelers playing to a 2-2 draw in the second round, Wuhan Women's soccer team is only third in the group after two rounds of matches.
Before the match, Wuhan Women's Football Head Coach Chang Weiwei said that the team needs to adjust their body and mind after a short break and go all out against the powerful Hyundai Iron Women's Football Team of South Korea. At the same time, they are well aware that only by defeating their opponents can they advance in the group stage. In another third round match in the same group, Abu Dhabi and Sabah played to a 2-2 draw.
Compared with the last game, Wuhan Women's Football Team had only one change in the starting lineup, Xie Ting replaced the injured Li Yanfei. At the beginning of the match, the visiting Hyundai Iron Women's Soccer Team took the initiative on the field and made threats many times. In the 37th minute, Mbobo nearly broke the goal, but Wuhan Women's Football Team conceded a goal first. In the 43rd minute, Hyundai Iron Women's Soccer added another goal to extend the score to 2-0.
In the second half, Wuhan Women's Soccer Team needed to equalize the score, but the attack still failed to take off. Despite Chang Weiwei's changes to the lineup, the team was unable to break the deadlock. In the 79th minute, Hyundai Steel extended the score to 2-0 through a counterattack, which eventually stayed until the end of the match.
After three rounds of matches, Hyundai Steel and Abu Dhabi in Group A made an early exit, while Wuhan women's soccer team ranked third in the group with three points from one win and two losses.
Despite their poor performance in the group stage of this year's AFC Asian Championship, Wuhan women's soccer team still has the possibility to advance to the last eight. According to this season's Women's AFC Champions League system, the top two of the three groups and the best third place of the two groups will advance to the last eight knockout round. Currently, Wuhan women's soccer team is ranked third in Group A, holding four clean sheets. The situation in Groups B and C is relatively complicated, with the third and fourth place teams not optimistic in terms of points and goal difference.
Although the Wuhan women's soccer team suffered a setback in the group stage, the team still has the hope of reaching the quarter-finals. Before the Asian Championship, Chang Wei Wei had said with confidence, "We are the highest ranked team in Asia. I believe that if we do well, we will show our strengths and weaknesses in the tournament." However, in the first round, Wuhan women's soccer team met its Waterloo and finally failed to realize the early exit.
After the match, Chang Weiwei said, "Three matches in 10 days, the players play the Asian Championship after the league, the physical quality is greatly challenged. The road ahead is up to you to chase. If you can advance to the semifinals, please believe that the team will change in the knockout rounds. Although we lost this game, we will not be discouraged and Wuhan women's soccer will continue to move forward." According to the women's AFC Champions League schedule, the knockout rounds will be held in late March and late May next year. If the Wuhan women's soccer team succeeds in advancing to the semifinals, there will still be nearly half a year to adjust the team.
