On March 25, 2021, the Chinese Football Association ushered in the new season at the National Women's Football Championship. The tournament, held at the Ridge of Yunnan Province, brought together 17 women's soccer teams, including the Women's Super League, the Women's First Division, and the U20 national team. The term "Clanging Roses" is a perfect illustration of the spirit of Chinese women's soccer. When did your memories of Chinese women's soccer begin? Perhaps the summer of 1999 will be your unforgettable starting point. Let's look back at the dusty soccer past together.
In 1999, the Chinese women's soccer team reached the final of the World Cup for the first time in the history of China's women's soccer team. 90 minutes of fierce battle, the two sides drew, and finally entered the penalty kicks. After a 90-minute draw, the two sides went into a penalty kick shootout, where the Chinese women lost 4-5, and finished as runners-up in the World Cup.
The outstanding performance of the Chinese women's soccer team in the World Cup made the nation feel proud and excited, and the discussion about women's soccer became a hot topic overnight. Players such as Sun Wen and Liu Ailing, who were on the roster of that year's women's soccer team, also became household soccer stars. In the Millennium Spring Festival Gala, Guo Donglin even brought the women's soccer team to the Spring Festival Gala stage, which showed the reputation of the women's soccer team at that time amidst the sound of laughter.
However, after entering the millennium, Chinese soccer has entered an extremely turbulent era. Influenced by the whole soccer environment, the road to the professionalization of the women's football league is a long way to go, and it is difficult to guarantee the livelihood of female soccer players, which directly affects the performance of the Chinese women's football team in the world competition. Since then, in the World Cup, the Chinese women's soccer team has never been able to replicate the previous glory, and the outside world's attention to women's soccer has been greatly reduced. Until 2015, the beginning of China's soccer reform made the soccer environment much better, and in 2018, Jack Ma announced that in the next 10 years, he would invest 1 billion yuan to support the development of China's women's football, and China's women's football embarked on the road of revitalization.
On the road to the revitalization of Chinese women's football, representatives of the new generation of players, such as Wang Frost, are gradually emerging. 2016 Rio Olympics, China's women's football team once again after eight years to compete in the main round of the Olympic Games. Different from the last time to participate in the Olympic Games at home, this time, after defeating Japan women's soccer team and South Korea women's soccer team consecutively in the qualifying rounds, the Chinese girls went to Brazil to participate in the main round as scheduled. In the passionate Samba country, Chinese women's soccer team all the way through the group stage, first 3-0 to beat the host, the second game 2-0 to beat South Africa, then draw Sweden group out of the line, Quarter-final defeat of Germany, the end of the Olympic tour in Brazil.
In the summer of 2019, the Chinese women's soccer team set foot in romantic France to start the journey of the Women's World Cup in France. However, the first match of the women's soccer girls suffered a blow to the head, facing the weak German women's soccer team, and finally lost 0-1.
Too late to be immersed in the sadness of defeat, the Chinese women's soccer team immediately ushered in the second opponent in the group stage, the South African women's soccer team. In this game, the women's soccer girls took out a more focused mood, the competition in the 44th minute, Li Ying's foot shot broke the deadlock on the field, and finally the women's soccer team harvested the first victory.
The third round of the group stage, facing the same points with their own Spanish women's football, Chinese women's football in the case of a draw can be out of the line to complete a 90-minute exciting competition, good at passing control of the Spanish women's football invented nearly 15 attacking opportunities, the Chinese girls to hold on to a draw, to reach the vision of the group out of the line, the competition was completed after the head coach Jia Xiuquan three times to wave their arms, and left behind the tears of excitement, always! The Chinese women's soccer team has been burdened with too much pressure, which was suddenly released at the moment when the team got out of the Women's World Cup in France.
In the group of life and death to escape from the world after the day, more serious 16 competition in front of the Chinese women's soccer team, the strength of the weaker Italian women's soccer team is the Chinese women's soccer girls to step through another threshold. In the end, the Chinese women's soccer team failed to resist the baptism of fate, 0-2 lost to the Italian women's soccer team, in the World Cup trip to the end. On the parting of the packing bag, head coach Jia Xiuquan was full of regret in front of the camera.
This is not only the idea of head coach Jia Xiuquan, but also the vision of all women's soccer players and fans. But the harshness of fate is so incomprehensible, perhaps we can not share the joy of the final championship, but the women's soccer girls fighting spirit is enough to inspire every Chinese fan, the performance of competitive sports can not be raised overnight, he needs every soccer people to continue to pay and hard work.
When will the clanging roses blossom, this is the focus of our attention, we have had the splendor of belonging to the phoenix spreading its wings, but also experienced the pain of nirvana, after a few ups and downs, about the dream of the world stage has never changed. Now, the women's football troops gathered at the Hai Ridge Base in Yunnan Province, where after the women's football tournament, the Chinese women's football team will once again gather, on April 8 and South Korean women's football team to compete for the Tokyo Olympic Games ticket, to the Olympic dream once again to launch the impact of the resounding roses in the Tokyo Olympic Games on the field once again blossomed? Let's wait and see.
