After twelve years of reincarnation, the Chinese women's soccer team again missed the Olympic stage.
In the second half, despite the creation of numerous good chances and the dominance of statistics, the women's soccer team and their opponents ended in a draw, jointly performing a competitive sports of the same death.
The two sides exchanged attacks and defenses in the 90-minute battle. The final whistle blew and the score was fixed at 1-1. No side could laugh at the end, and no side could laugh at the defeat. The only thing left behind were the sighs of Shui Qingxia, the tears of countless female soccer girls and the deep thoughts about who could replace Wang Shanshan.
At the moment, more than 20,000 fans cheered in unison and applauded the players who put the final shots on the board.
Such an outcome seems to be expected.
The people and events behind this list may explain today's regrets.
I. Employment strategy
In the post-match press conference, a reporter asked a question about overseas players, and Shui Qingxia mentioned Tang Jiali without naming her. Below is a summary of Shui's comments on Tang Jiali.
"Maybe a lot of people are focused on Don Carrie, who is one of the overseas study players, and she's not a bad player. Hopefully they will perform when they return."
From Shui Qingxia's statement, it is clear that she will not give up on powerful players such as Wang Frost and Xiao Yuyi, even if they do not have serious injuries and drastic decline. Ordinary fans are well aware of Tang Jiali's strength, as Shui's coach who has worked with her for many years, isn't she aware of it?
A suggestion made by one of the top brass became the key to the change in the list. Originally, Tang Jiali and Zhang Xin were on the shortlist for Shui Qingxia's Olympic preliminaries, but they were eventually replaced. Discussing the matter with industry insiders, he was perplexed and later confirmed his suspicions. "Some people may not want to hire her."
To a certain extent, some of the players in these three games were not the ones Shui Qingxia wanted to use, but had to use. In each game, Shui Qingxia could only play her best cards after certain players appeared, were recognized by the leadership or proved their value on the field. For example, in the second half of the Korean team, the side breakthrough, middle penetration, high altitude bombing. How long has it been since we've seen such coordination and offense? The never-give-up Chinese women's soccer team seems to be back.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
This selection intervention is not the first of its kind and has pervaded the entire coaching staff since the World Cup.
The players who were selected were not at fault. Some are not even sure why they were selected. However, their appearances affected the team to a certain extent, resulting in other stronger players rarely getting a chance and ultimately harming the entire Chinese women's soccer team.
In this Olympic preliminaries, the Chinese women's soccer team has the geographical advantage, but lacks the timing and people.
The first match of the group stage will be against the powerful North Korea. Although the mysterious coach has been away for three years, the opponents are still not to be underestimated. When they return to the field, the familiar DPRK women's soccer team is still strong. In their first match in Hangzhou, the DPRK women's soccer team went straight to the finals of the Asian Games and finished second.
In contrast, the Chinese women's soccer team was only able to assemble two days before the start of the tournament as many players were studying abroad. The traveling and the integration of a brand new lineup made Shui Qingxia's nerves tense. Some of the main players have not yet adapted to face the battle of Tianwangshan. If you win, you will have the initiative to go out, if you lose, you will have to look at people's faces.
In this case, the Chinese women's soccer team used to be able to rely on Wang Frost and Tang Jiali, but now they're not there and are suffering from the flu with an incomplete lineup, which has led to fevers in four of the main players, including Wu Chengshu and Li Mengwen. Even if the athletes are in better shape and can recover in a day or two, they cannot withstand the density and intensity of this Wednesday.
The combination of all these factors makes the Chinese women's soccer team look helpless against North Korea, lack of success against Thailand, and failure against South Korea.
II. Positioning issues
"Elimination isn't necessarily a bad thing right now. If you win today and are fortunate enough to advance, the expectations will certainly be raised indefinitely. When the time comes, if you lose to Japan or Australia by a big margin, how embarrassing the scene will be." An industry insider said.
His words are not without merit.
In October, the second place Shanghai Women's soccer team in the Women's Super League traveled to Japan for training. During their half-month stay in Tohoku, the Shanghai women's soccer team had a record of 1-1 Zagoya Ainobashi, 3-9 Nikkei Belle, and 1-9 Kanagawa Mobara. The first opponent was from Japan's second tier league, consisting mainly of college students. The last two opponents were the third and ninth place finishers from the first division league, with almost no active international players in attendance, and mostly young players from the post-00s.
Xiao Yuyi, Li Jiayue and the team's two foreigners played in all three warm-up matches, but still struggled to win.
The league is the basis for national team selection. The top two teams in the Women's Super League went to Japan and really saw the gap between Chinese and Japanese women's soccer at this stage. In the words of former international player Li Jiayue, "Behind on all fronts, we are in a sad situation! I don't know when we can really recognize our fundamental problems and make changes! Maybe I can't wait for this day."
Should the Chinese women's soccer team advance this time, there could be a sequel to the 1-6 at the World Cup in the final showdown next March.
Therefore, insiders say that missing the Paris Olympics was a wake-up call for many, so that executives and fans could see the true level of Chinese women's soccer. As Socrates said, the prerequisite for all actions should be to "know thyself".
Song Kai took office on the Chinese women's soccer team hopes, did not expect half a month after the head of the stick, "China's women's soccer team must be out of the Olympic qualifiers!"
After winning the Asian Cup, Shui Qingxia talked more than once about a word highly associated with the championship - "luck". In other words, the Chinese women's soccer team winning the championship was more like a Danish fairy tale and Greek mythology, which is not normal in itself. It's just that there were so many pages on coaching and women's soccer spirit that the word ended up getting buried.
At that time, the reason why the Chinese women's soccer team was able to quickly get out of the fiasco of the Tokyo Olympics and complete the transition to the top of Asia was that, in addition to the coaches' and players' own efforts, it also required the coordinated planning of a certain leader sent from the higher-ups to the Football Association. Under his management, everyone in the team can fulfill their duties and do their best. The coach is responsible for selection, training and scheduling. The players only need to train and play, and the whole team is of one mind.
Soon after India won the cup, the leader left and the atmosphere of the team gradually changed. The Chinese women's soccer team seems to be going back to the past, to the middle and late stages of the past women's soccer coaches.
"History has proven that everything is easy to do as long as the Chinese don't compromise themselves." This famous quote from historical fiction is sometimes true of women's soccer. Coaches and players have never been the problem of Chinese women's soccer, but rather the distractions and temptations of others.
Now the wood has turned, and the Chinese women's soccer team spent the next two years back in what was once a familiar environment - with few people asking questions.
How much will this disappearing future affect Chinese women's soccer? Without high level playing experience, how far will the majority of Chinese women's soccer players be left behind by the increasingly fast developing world women's soccer? Will the Chinese women's soccer team still be able to fight a battle when we meet the real Japan-Australia again? In the meantime, will society's attention to women's soccer drop to freezing point? Will there be a sudden drop in the number of girls playing soccer? Will the league remain the same after sponsorships have moved away?
Time will give answers to these myriad questions.
As Luo Xiang said, "Cherish your lows and you will see many truths. All who are willing to get through the times can get through the times. No one's life is smooth sailing. Suffering in the trough is to build up strength to hold on to even the light that comes through the cracks before you have the courage to die. Please repeat, a thousand times a thousand save themselves by the thousands in the midst of fire and water."
