As the Chinese women's soccer girls return to their respective clubs, they are intensely preparing for the upcoming Chinese Super League. At the beginning of September, they will gather again to prepare for two crucial tournaments - the Asian Games and the second stage of the Asian Qualifying Tournament for the Olympic Games. Victory in these two matches will directly determine whether the Chinese women's soccer team will be able to appear in the Olympic Games in Paris next year. With the shadow of their World Cup loss not yet completely lifted, the Chinese women's soccer team must quickly pick themselves up and prepare for the challenges ahead. Winning or losing these matches will have a profound impact on the overall performance of the Chinese women's soccer team in this Olympic cycle.
In the current Olympic cycle, China's women's soccer team's performance has looked somewhat bleak compared to the Asian Cup they won early last year. Head coach Shui Qingxia is under immense pressure, which seems to be intensifying. A poor performance at the World Cup, coupled with controversy over some personnel appointments, has subjected her to cyber violence, similar to the situation suffered by Jia Xiuquan. It makes one wonder why China's women's soccer team gets so little attention. As Wang Frost said, many women's soccer fans come to blame men's soccer more than they really understand women's soccer. They speculate on the appointment of the head coach and question the public opinion environment of Chinese soccer. Recently, a Chinese women's soccer player who suffered elimination in international matches took to social media to publicize her stance, which undoubtedly intensified the public pressure. Zhao Yujie, a player who was eliminated before the World Cup, shared photos of the main players of the women's national teams in Europe and the United States and questioned the selection criteria of the Chinese women's soccer team. She was on the training roster, followed the team to Europe and performed well in warm-up matches, but was eventually brushed aside. She expressed her dissatisfaction with the selection mechanism of the Chinese women's soccer team, arguing that weight should not be the only criterion for being selected for the national team. The example of one of the players has attracted widespread attention. James, a winger for the England women's soccer team, was nearly 10 kilograms overweight and would not have been able to make the national team according to the Chinese women's soccer team's standards. The release of this public document caused a strong reaction from fans, with some even speculating that the Chinese women's soccer team imploded during the World Cup. While we can't be sure if the infighting was real, the criteria did spark a lot of discontent among players. Weight can be used as a measurement, but it is obviously too harsh to use it as the only standard. Just like when getting married, it is acceptable to ask for a house and a car, but the key is not to use this as the only criterion for selection. Similarly, for women's soccer, weight can be used as an important reference, but can not be used as the only standard to exclude athletes from the national team.
