Graphic Source: Beijing Youth Daily
According to the scheduled schedule, China's women's soccer team completed its training in Haikou on June 6, followed by a rally in Qingdao on the 11th to prepare for the upcoming East Asian Cup Women's Soccer Championship to be held in Japan next month. It is worth noting that on May 25th, 54-year-old veteran goalkeeper and former national team goalkeeping coach Au Chuliang officially joined the coaching team, working alongside Cheng Xiaoyu to help the Chinese women's soccer team's goalkeeping training. Drawing on the experience of the men's soccer team, the Chinese women's soccer team is also committed to bringing in former international players such as Au Chuliang and Ma Xiaoxu to strengthen the coaching lineup and improve the overall training standard.
On June 1, the official social media of the Chinese women's soccer team announced, "In order to strengthen the strength of the national team's coaching staff, former national team goalkeeper and coach Au Chuliang has joined the Chinese women's soccer coaching team preparing for the East Asian Cup."
Au Chuliang, a name that rings a bell in the hearts of Chinese fans. As a leading player in the domestic professional league and a former international footballer, Au has been praised by the industry for his skills and professional ethics. Prior to this, Au not only served as a lecturer at the grassroots level of domestic soccer, teaching skills, but also as a representative of the coaches trusted by the Football Association, engaged in coaching at all levels of the national team, footprints throughout the men's national team at all levels.
He has assisted Gao Hongbo, Li Tie, Li Xiaopeng and other famous footballers in coaching the national men's soccer team. However, with the national soccer team bidding farewell to the Qatar World Cup early, there are no major tournaments to prepare for this year. The Chinese Super League will schedule matches on international match days in June and September, and it is unlikely that the national soccer team's training and match plans for this year will be implemented. In this case, the Chinese women's soccer coaching team communicated with the Football Association and decided to invite Au Chuliang to join the coaching team.
Au Chuliang joined the Chinese women's soccer team also has its practical significance. Taking the current training program in Haikou as an example, although there are four goalkeepers participating in the training, the goalkeeper coach is only Cheng Xiaoyu. In order to ensure the quality of preparation, the coaching team hopes to add more coaches. Au Chuliang, with his ability, experience and good reputation during his playing days and after his retirement, will undoubtedly improve the strength of the Chinese women's soccer coaching team by joining the coaching team.
In fact, before inviting Au Chuliang, the Chinese women's football coaching team has planned to invite the former "Miss Asian Football", Beijing women's football assistant coach Ma Xiaoxu to join, mainly responsible for offensive training. Sources close to the matter said: "There is no doubt about Ma Xiaoxu's ability. The important thing is that men's and women's soccer have a lot in common at the technical level. The district director has worked for a long time in men's national teams at all levels, especially during the period when he led the national men's soccer team, and has accumulated a wealth of theoretical and practical experience, and his arrival will be an important support for the training link of Chinese women's soccer goalkeepers."
It is reported that after Ma Xiaoxu and Au Chuliang joined the coaching team, the Chinese women's soccer team will continue to introduce quality talents, and even consider introducing some international resources to adapt to the development trend of contemporary international women's soccer.
According to the plan, the Chinese women's soccer team will rest for a few days after finishing the training in Haikou on the 6th of this month and regroup in Qingdao on the 11th of June to prepare for the new East Asian Cup Women's Soccer Championship which will be held in Japan from the 19th to the 27th of July. The team is expected to leave for Japan around July 16th or 17th.
