In the 2022 East Asian Championship, the Chinese women's soccer team had their first match against Asian Champions China on July 20 at 2:30pm. The matchup was a notable one, as the two sides met once before in the Asian Championship group stage earlier in the year, where the Chinese team lost 0-4. China scored the first goal in the 13th minute of the match, but an own goal in the 21st minute made the score 0:2. Despite the defense efforts in the second half, the Chinese team lost 0:2.
The starting lineup of the Chinese women's soccer team showed resilience in the game, but they faced a number of challenges against a strong Chinese team.
Early on in the game, the Chinese team passed a long counterattack pass to Su Yuxuan, who quickly broke through and crossed the ball, but the ball was parried out by the goalkeeper. Unfortunately, in the 5th minute, midfielder Ding Qi had to go off the field after suffering a strain during a press. Immediately after, in the 13th minute, the Chinese team took the lead through a sideline ball opportunity, breaking through on the side and passing to Zhang Linyan in front of the goal. In the 15th minute, the Chinese team once again suffered injuries, blue Yu Jie back to the defense with the opponent collision sprain, the Chinese team had to change early, and a goal behind.
In the 21st minute, after a pass from the left side of the field, Chinese defender Su Xin Yun made a mistake when clearing the ball, making the score 0:2. Although the Chinese team tried to start from the defense in the second half, trying to link up the attack, they failed to break through the defense effectively against the Chinese team. In the 37th minute, Su Yuxuan and Chen Yanping broke through the half-court to get a corner kick, but still failed to break through the opponent's goal. Although China held the ball for a longer period of time, the Chinese team managed to defuse several waves of attacks. Before the end of the first half, goalkeeper Ching Si-Yu faced a one-touch chance from Chinese striker Zhang Lin-Yan and managed to keep the goal. The first half whistle blew, and the Chinese team fell behind by 0:2.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and played again. In the 54th minute, China tried a long shot, but it was deflected by Cheng Siyu. In the 61st minute, the other team took another long shot, but it was also beautifully blocked by Cheng Siyu. Faced with the situation of falling behind, the Chinese Women's Soccer Team was given a free kick in the 76th minute, Lai Liqin attempted a header pass, but the chance was still confiscated by the opponent's goalkeeper.
In the 85th minute, the Chinese team replaced Ding Jiaying and Pan Yanxin for a pair of substitutions. In the 87th minute, Pan Yanxin crossed the opponent's defense with a long pass from the midfield, and Chen Yanping grasped the opponent's mistake and shot at the goal, but her luck was not in her favor, hitting the lintel of the goal, which was the closest she came to scoring a goal in this game.
The whistle blew for the end of the match, and the Chinese team did not let the other team cross the line again in the second half, but finally lost by 2 goals. After the match, Mr. Yen Shih-kai, the head coach of the team, said that although the team lost two of its main players in the first half, the substitutes made up for them quickly, and he was satisfied with the performance of the players who were brave enough to play against each other despite the difference in their physical fitness. The team will continue to prepare for the next two matches according to the previous training. Lai Liqin, a Chinese women's soccer player, said after the game that it was a tough game and although the opponents were stronger, they did present the skills and tactics from their training. In the next game, they will still start with defense and do a good job of linking up the offense after the interception. The Chinese women's soccer team will next play host Japan on Saturday, July 23 at 2:30 p.m. Taiwan time. Read more: Chunghwa Women's Soccer Coach Yen Shih-kai: The only constant in coaching Chunghwa Women's Soccer for three times is to keep Taiwan's women's soccer team up to date with Asian and world powers
