April 21, the Tokyo Olympics soccer competition group draw was announced, although the men's football tournament and we have nothing to do, but our women's football draw results are quite worthy of attention. As a third-ranking team, our women's soccer team drew the strong Netherlands, Brazil and relatively weak Zambia, from the world ranking and performance, these opponents are among the best in their respective classes, can be described as "signing extraordinary".
Following the customary soccer tournament draw rules, teams from the same continent are subject to the principle of avoidance, e.g. Australia, as a member of the AFC, is required to avoid Asian teams. This rule makes the grouping of our women's soccer team relatively clear: among the three teams in the first bracket, only the world's top-ranked team, the United States or the Netherlands, can be chosen, while the second bracket, Sweden and England, are automatically excluded. If the same group with the Netherlands, Brazil will be the opponent of our women's soccer team.
In theory, this combination is the weakest opponent our women's soccer team could possibly draw. The Netherlands are just one place below the United States in the world rankings and are coming off a 0-2 defeat in the 2019 World Cup finals, while Brazil are ranked seventh in the world, behind Sweden and England. Zambia, a fourth-tier team, is at the bottom of the world rankings at 104. From this point of view, our women's soccer team is in Group F draw results can be described as "mixed" - on the one hand, China's women's soccer team can be pleased to face such opponents; on the other hand, the opponents may also be grateful for this.
According to the rules of the Olympics, the top two teams in each group automatically advance, and the two best third-place finishers from the three groups advance to the last eight. For our women's soccer team, the minimum goal is to beat Zambia and get as many points as possible from Brazil and the Netherlands - a win against these two teams will be difficult, but a draw is to be expected.
However, there may be some challenges behind this strategy. Firstly, although Zambia are not ranked high, their strength is not to be underestimated. Barbara Banda, the main center forward of the team, used to play for Shanghai in the Women's Super League of China and won the Golden Boot of the league with 18 goals. This player is very fast and has scored many times with her speed in the game. For now, what our women's soccer team needs to focus on is whether Zambia's overall strength can provide enough support for Barbara - if there are Barbara's all over the place, then the game will be even tougher.
Brazil, as an old rival of China's women's soccer team, suffered a 0-3 defeat in the group stage at the last Rio Olympics. But when Brazil was the host, the situation was different from now - not to mention that even at that time, China's women's soccer team managed to advance to the last eight, and even had the opportunity to beat Germany into the quarterfinals.
