Miracles are hard to come by. Despite thrashing Vietnam 6-1 in the final group game of Group B of the U20 Asian Cup, the Chinese women's soccer team regrettably finished third in the group, missing out on a chance to advance to the World Junior Championships. Having missed out on the tournament for the second time in a row, the trajectory of Chinese women's soccer is worrying. Currently, the global women's football is developing in the direction of masculinity, and the Chinese women's football is no exception, with its style becoming more and more similar to that of the Chinese men's football. In Asia, the Chinese women's soccer team used to be the world's first-class, but now it has been reduced to the second-class, this reality can not be avoided.
Looking back at the first two rounds of the tournament, China's U20 women's soccer team finished third in the group with one draw and one loss, drawing 1-1 with North Korea but losing 0-2 to Japan. Vietnam, on the other hand, lost two consecutive matches in advance. Facing Vietnam in this match, the Chinese women's soccer team has little hope of advancing. On the one hand, we need to ensure that we beat Vietnam by at least 8 goals; on the other hand, the North Korean women's soccer team needs to lose to Japan. However, both conditions were not met. North Korea beat Japan 1-0, while the Chinese women's soccer team only won 6-1. In the end, with one win, one draw and one loss, Japan and North Korea advanced to the third place in the group.
It is worth paying attention to the last Asian Cup, Chinese women's soccer team with Japan and South Korea in the same group, also failed to advance, this fact is enough to prove that, like the Chinese men's soccer team in previous years, Chinese women's soccer team in the face of Japan, South Korea and even North Korea, it is difficult to take advantage. Even with Vietnam's victory in the game, from the scene, but also the lack of teamwork figure, more rely on individual physical advantage breakthrough. This style of play is often difficult to work when facing Japan, South Korea and even strong teams in Europe and the United States. Moreover, Vietnam scored only one goal in this Asian Cup, and that was achieved in the match with China. All three matches were lost.
From last year's losses of Chinese women's soccer in the World Cup, Olympic preliminaries, and Asian Games, to two consecutive youth women's soccer teams failing to qualify for the World Youth Championships, the overall decline of China's women's soccer team is comparable to that of China's men's soccer team. The lack of domestic youth training talents, complacency of national coaches at all levels, lack of high-level tournament training for national team players, unattended domestic women's soccer, and the quality of matches are worrisome. The development of Chinese women's soccer is facing unprecedented difficulties and challenges. Although we are not frustrated, this is the worst women's soccer team in China in the past decade. We are concerned that this will be the best Chinese women's soccer in the next decade.
