On the streets of Tokyo, in the early morning of July 18, 2021, Xinhua captured the moment. On that evening, China's women's soccer warriors were in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, preparing intensely for their upcoming Olympic campaign.
The team set off from Beijing on the 17th and arrived in Japan at 2:00 am on the 18th after a long flight of 20 hours. Early the next morning, the team went into recovery training. In the afternoon of the 19th, a fierce group match filled the training ground with the smell of gunpowder.
Jia Xiuquan, the team's head coach, said that they mainly simulated the first match against Brazil in the past two days, seeking to understand their opponents more deeply in order to play the unique style of Chinese women's soccer in the match. "The players are in excellent spirits and have fully recovered from the exhaustion of traveling today. We are geared up and looking forward to the match." His words revealed the determination to win.
Despite the long journey, Jia expressed his understanding of Japan's strict anti-epidemic measures, "Although we were a little slower [to get out of customs], as said, life comes first, health comes first, and anti-epidemic comes first."
Talking about the transportation arrangements from Tokyo to Sendai, Jia expressed his gratitude to the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games: "The staff took good care of us and were very considerate and warm. Not only did they prepare a luxury bus with a bathroom for us, but they also provided us with a sumptuous box lunch in the parking lot. The box lunch was made with great care and attention, it was Chinese cuisine with a wide variety of dishes, which made us feel warm."
