As night falls on the green fields of Spain, the Chinese women's soccer team and the Irish women's soccer team quietly began their battle. on the night of February 22, the two teams ended their training trip to Spain with a 0-0 draw, while the Chinese women's soccer team had a record of 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss.
After the game, head coach Shui Qingxia frankly accepted the interview, summarized: "Through the real-world test in Europe, we found that the gap with the opponent in technology and tactics is obvious, especially in the attack or key moments, our decision-making reaction is slightly delayed, especially in the aggression of the defense, we still have a long way to go."
Shui Qingxia also made special mention of the strength of the rival Haitian women's soccer team in the same group: "Their strength to advance to the World Cup should not be underestimated, whether it is the overall confrontation or individual ability, are very good."
During their training in Spain, the Chinese women's soccer team scheduled four matches, including two matches in the Spanish Women's Super League and two international A matches for European national teams. In these four matches, the Chinese women's soccer team defeated Real Betis Women's Soccer Team and Huelva Sports Women's Soccer Team, while the matches against Sweden and Ireland showed the initial idea of preparing for the World Cup.
In the match against Ireland, Shui Qingxia arranged Xu Huan to start, with Chen Qiaozhu, Wang Xiaoxue, Wang Linlin and Li Mengwen forming the backline; Yao Lingwei, Zhang Rui and Zhang Xin in the midfield; and Xiao Yuyi, Wang Shanshan and Lou Jiahui pounding away up front.
In addition to using the main framework of the Asian Cup, Shui Qingxia also tried some newcomers, such as Guangdong girl Chen Qiaozhu, who played the whole match against Ireland and came on as a substitute against Sweden.
Wu Chengshu, Ou Yiyao, Fang Jie and substitute Shao Ziqin scored goals in the match against Huelva Sports Women's Football Team. Both Ou Yiyao and Shao Ziqin are young players, Ou Yiyao is 22 years old and Shao Ziqin is 20 years old with a height of 1.80 meters, and their performances could be a secret weapon against the European and American teams.
In addition to digging new people, the Spanish training, the Chinese women's soccer team also hope to feel the intensity of the confrontation of European teams, to find the gap to make up for the shortcomings.
After the draw with the Irish women's soccer team, Shui Qingxia said, "In this game, Ireland's physical conditions are better, including the whole of Europe, and their high ball tactics are unique. According to the arrangement of this preparation meeting, we did better, especially after the high ball game. From this game, we achieved the purpose of the exercise and the game ended 0-0. As a matter of fact, both sides had the possibility of scoring. Therefore, we should keep strengthening our defense in the next stage."
Through four Spanish games, Shui Qingxia saw the biggest gap between Chinese women's soccer and European women's soccer: "From the reaction of the game, we still have a big gap with the European team, especially the counterattack after losing the ball, the use of technology and tactics, I think there is a big gap in general."
"Also, when we go from offense to defense or from defense to offense, we are relatively slow to react to our decisions because the pace of the domestic game is completely different, and the European women's soccer teams go from offense to defense with aggression, and I think they do that much better than we do." Shui Qingxia said.
"So just from those two games (Sweden and Ireland), it's not like finding a reason because this is also the first year that we're playing against a European team and looking at the overall development of the European women's soccer team, I think it's relatively fast, and on an overall level, including soccer, I think it's doing better than we are." Water added that the game of soccer is like that, "It's only by playing against the stronger teams that we can see where we are in all aspects of the game."
"Just in terms of our preparation for the winter training, I think the preparation for the winter training was ok or more satisfactory, especially in the transformation of the offensive and defensive ends of the game, I think we have made some progress compared to before." But she also emphasized, "But in the details, especially in the confrontation, in the body collisions, in the proper use of techniques and tactics I think there are still some gaps, the European players are clearer and faster after the second touch stop, especially the moment of going forward especially, so it's worth to learn from that as well."
In the early morning of February 22, the Haitian women's soccer team defeated the Chilean women's soccer team 2-1 in the 2023 Women's World Cup qualifying playoffs to make it to the Women's World Cup. The other three teams in Group D for the Haitian women's soccer team were China, England and Denmark.
Talking about the Haitian team, which has just become the rival of the same group, Shui Qingxia said: "Haiti can win the final victory, including entering the game. I think the Haitian team is relatively strong in terms of overall confrontation and individual ability. This is the biggest problem we are currently facing. Currently, throughout Europe, including Africa, the individual confrontation ability of women's soccer players is definitely much better than ours, so I hope that through this game we can first understand our gaps and the aspects we need to improve. Then strengthen it in training in March, and then see what areas need to be constantly adapted through matches in April."
"In any case, I think the most important thing is to find the right direction and then work in that direction. And then look at the areas we need to improve on, especially the aggressiveness of the defense. I think it's still a work in progress. Defense is really important, so hopefully through this game, we all wake up to the fact that we can only gradually shorten some of the gaps with them if we keep improving our abilities. In recent years, European women's soccer has developed really fast, especially what we used to see on TV and what we really encountered are really different. This aggressive defense brings a lot of pressure to the players and the team." Shui Qingxia said, "No matter what, I hope everyone can work together to make these trainings, games, and work better."
