Ma Dexing: China’s U17 women’s football team has limited high-level warm-up matches and lacks mental preparation for the game against the United States

October 27 News On October 24, the Chinese U17 women’s football team defeated Ecuador 4-0 in the third round of the U17 Women’s World Cup group stage. With 2 wins and 1 loss, it advanced to the top 16 as second in the group. This was also the first time that the Chinese team reached the knockout stage in the U17 Women’s World Cup. "Sports Weekly" reporter Ma Dexing wrote an article that the Chinese U17 women's football team has limited participation in international high-level warm-up matches.

For this U17 girls' team, the biggest regret at present is probably that the team has participated in limited high-level international warm-up matches since its establishment. It is far unable to compare with the 09-year-old men's U16 national team and the defunct 08-year-old men's U17 national team. This has seriously affected the development of the team. According to statistics, since the establishment of this team in October 2024, apart from two warm-up matches (1 win, 1 draw) with the Japanese girls’ team of the same age during their training trip to Japan in January this year (3 wins, 2 draws), the only time this team has played 3 warm-up matches (1 win, 1 draw, and 1 loss) was the visit of the North Korean girls’ team in July this year. Moreover, the two warm-up matches with the Japanese women's team only lasted 60 minutes, and to some extent they could not be regarded as official international warm-up matches. Obviously, this kind of international competition experience is not enough for the female junior team competing in the World Series.

Originally, the girls’ team planned to go overseas for training starting from September 1, with a warm-up match every three days and at least 15 to 20 high-level international games to help the girls accumulate experience in competitions. However, due to various reasons, the women's team could only train in Suzhou. However, only practicing without competing during the training camp obviously cannot improve the players. When the women's national team was scheduled to train in Suzhou at the same time, they were unwilling to warm up with the young women's football team. In desperation, the coaching staff proposed to temporarily organize the Chinese women's U23 national team to train in Suzhou. The task of this U23 women's football team is to warm up with the U17 women's team. To this end, coaches from other women's football teams such as Zhang Chiming and Guan Zhen came to help temporarily and directed the U23 women's national team to cooperate with the U17 women's team in warm-up training. In the warm-up matches, the U17 girls team won by a big score.

Before playing in the World Cup, the girls' team went to Morocco in advance. On the one hand, they adapted to the weather and venue conditions, and on the other hand, they participated in three warm-up matches, including a 4-1 victory over the Cameroon girls' team, a 5-1 victory over the host Morocco girls' team, and a 5-0 victory over the New Zealand girls' team. In the U17 World Cup, the Moroccan team lost 0-3 to Brazil and 1-3 to Italy, and barely advanced to the top 16 as one of the third-placed teams in the four best groups; Cameroon lost to the Netherlands 3-4, North Korea 1-2, and Mexico 0-1, and was eliminated in the group; New Zealand lost to Japan 0-3, Paraguay 1-4, and Zambia 0-4.

Combining these three warm-up matches and taking a look at the performance of the Chinese girls' team in the group stage, perhaps we can have a clearer understanding of the overall strength of this U17 girls' team and its current position in this age group in the world of women's football. Although the team lost to the American team 2-5, the overall performance of the Chinese team in this game was not at a disadvantage. It was precisely because the girls lacked the training of international high-level competitions that the team made mistakes under the high pressure of the opponent in a good situation with a 1-0 lead. The American girls seized the opportunity, tied the score and overtook. The girls obviously lacked sufficient psychological and ideological preparation.

Facing the Brazilian team in this 1/8 finals, perhaps the Chinese women's team will be looked down upon by all parties. After all, the Brazilian women's football team is a world-class team. But regardless of their future results, Chinese girls have already made history, demonstrated themselves on the world stage, and clarified the future direction of development. This is actually enough!