Reporter Jin Cuo reports On November 1 ST, Xiamen Egret Stadium, when the Australian referee blew the final whistle, Shui Qingxia first stamped, then stood still, and her face was full of unwillingness-the last Olympic preliminaries, China and South Korea 1-1, both out early. After the World Cup and the Asian Games, the women’s football team in China also suffered a failure in the Olympic preliminaries, because "all three failed".
China women’s football team will have no competition task for more than two years before the start of the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup. How to sink down and find the direction? What kind of road should we take? Who should lead the team on this new journey? This is everyone’s question, including Song Kai, the president of the Football Association, who watched the live broadcast.
In three matches, China women’s football team won 1, drew 1 and lost 1, which is in line with the current strength. There is no surprise, only confusion.
633 days ago, when the China women’s football team regained the Asian Cup championship in India after 16 years, the outside world thought that the sonorous rose had found the right girl, and it was just around the corner to rise again, but it was even hit, hurting many people and waking many people. It turned out that the Asian Cup champion was only a flash in the pan-it was also a fate, and a variety of coincidences made it that champion.
Shui Qingxia later said that she hoped the players would continue to work hard and "don’t lie on the credit book"-in the past, China women’s football team was "disdainful" to the Asian Cup champion to some extent, because we were fighting for the World Cup champion and the Olympic gold medal, but now we can’t even get into the Olympic Games.
A cruel fact is that the Asian Cup champion may be the "honor" ceiling of China women’s football team for quite some time.
Over the years, China women’s football team has given the outside world an illusion that our personal skills or basic skills are still good. But judging from the three competitions this year, the skills of China women’s football team are very poor! Sometimes, even if there is no confrontation, the basic movements are not in place. There are almost all the "faults" of men’s football and women’s football. Therefore, in China football, the so-called "masculinization" of women’s football is actually an irony.
Some people will say that, at least, the women’s football team in China fought hard, and there is no doubt about this. However, if there is only a "fighting spirit", it is sad, because you find that sometimes you can’t fight hard, and that’s the case with the World Cup against England, even though some players "deny it".
Of the 22 players selected for the Olympic preliminaries, there are really not many players who give people hope. Returning to the Women’s World Cup, we are thinking about a question. In the case that Europe and the United States are better than us, what direction should China women’s football team or Asia take? The Philippines and South Korea chose naturalization, while the direction of Japanese women’s football team is to continue to adhere to technicalization-and what about China women’s football team? This point, from one of the few players who has been unanimously affirmed by the outside world in the three competitions this year, may not be difficult to get the answer. You can vaguely see the shadow of the old women’s football team in her body.
In the next few years, we don’t have a big game to play. In fact, we can settle down and train well. Youth training is the foundation. At the level of the national team, whether many veterans will continue to be retained, or whether they will be given a heavy responsibility after being retained, their use, or role conversion, needs the coaching staff to think carefully and carefully-or, let’s just say it, let young people show more, and use it as the spirit of youth training to reshape the sonorous rose.
Some people may say that the Korean women’s football team is different from ours, but in fact, this "difference" is even more embarrassing-after four years of "closed door", North Korea returned to the rivers and lakes in the Asian Games and won the silver medal, and its strength is still the same. Moreover, it has completed the replacement. In this Olympic preliminaries, they reached the final four.
The living environment of Korean women’s football team is not clear to the outside world, but we know that there are no players studying abroad, and they all play in local leagues. One question is, is the level of Korean leagues higher than that of women? If so, doesn’t that mean that the league we have worked so hard to build is just a show?
But that’s the answer. Although the women’s super clubs didn’t get the bonus of "Jinyuan Football" in those years, most of them can survive now with government background. Moreover, because they undertake the task of the National Games, they are still valued to some extent, at least they won’t be easily abandoned. But the cruel fact is that the training level of the clubs, including women’s super clubs, is really not good, or even worse than that of the sports teams in those years.
The root cause is closely related to the level of coaches. An insider said: China’s local coaches prefer the men’s Super League, China A, China B and the echelon, and only when there is no place to go will they choose the women’s football team. Their level is not high, and even the coaches in the women’s football team are even lower. Even so, these coaches are highly mobile and can’t stay. So, will the players taught by this kind of coach have a future? Or "usable"?
Shui Qingxia, who has many years of coaching experience in the club, admits that the training level of women’s super teams is very average except for a few strong teams. Therefore, before the competition, she is more willing to let the players train for a long time, so that she can "make up lessons".
Of course, such a choice is only a kind of thinking, not a wooden bridge. For the women’s football team in China, it is actually possible to walk on two legs, one is focused training, and the other is continuous study abroad. Long-term training, there are many opponents of public opinion, but there are not a few supporters in the circle, especially in the local coach circle. It is even said that the way the national team plays women’s super is also an exploration. "Even if these people can’t play the main force in the future, they will at least increase the thickness of the bench."
As for studying abroad, most people agree with it, and it is already in action. In this Olympic preliminaries, China women’s football team has eight players studying abroad, plus injured Shoupeng Wang. The number is not small, but from the performance point of view, it does not show any advantages. It is a fact that few of our players studying abroad play a leading role in the club, and some even just play the role of soy sauce. It is useless for players to study abroad for the sake of studying abroad and for the sake of "making friends".
Therefore, in the future, studying abroad is not just a whim of a season, but requires continuous output, and at the same time, it is necessary to choose a more suitable club and league for players. It is necessary to help the players improve, but also to consider their own strength positioning, not to mention that studying abroad will definitely be able to play the main force-at least to compete for posts, rather than just blindly pursuing giants, so that the best results can be achieved.
After the Olympic preliminaries, Shui Qingxia and her coaching staff ended their mission. As for the future, she doesn’t know.
For Shui Qingxia, there is a lot of criticism from the outside world. She thinks that her level is limited and she can’t continue to improve women’s football. After the World Cup, there have been voices calling for her to leave class.
Shui Qingxia went through several twists and turns when she took office. After leading the United team to win the gold medal in the National Games, she did not sign up for the women’s football coach, but in the end, the senior management chose to push her to that position.
The level of Shui Qingxia’s coaching is different, but it is wrong to kill her with a stick. After all, the current women’s football team may not be better than her.
China women’s football team has a "gap period" of more than two years, so it doesn’t need to be so utilitarian. Next, it can be "managed" well, and the China Football Association should also consider whether to change coaches, and if so, what kind of coaches to change.
At present, there are several options for the future women’s football coach. One is to keep water to celebrate the summer; The second is to hire foreign coaches; The third is to choose local male coaches.
The three choices have their own reasons and disadvantages, but what the China Football Association should remember is that the women’s football team has been tossing and turning, and foreign coaches have invited it. The men have Bruno and Eyjolfsson, and the women have domanski and Elizabeth. The only successful one is Bruno. Unfortunately, because of the poor record in the warm-up match, the China Football Association and others dismissed it, resulting in FIFA; Local men’s coaches have also been used, such as Zhang Haitao and Pei Encai in the early days, Li Xiaopeng and Hao Wei later, and Jia Xiuquan recently. It is true that Ma Yuanan and Ma Liangxing have found the right pulse and are close to success, but what they do now may not be suitable.
Therefore, the future China women’s football team, the coach must "fit" or "adapt", but what kind of fit? This requires Song Kai and representatives from all aspects of the women’s football community to conduct in-depth research and communication, and listen to opinions widely. If Shuiqingxia does not stay, Japanese coach is actually a good choice.
