Tianjin Media: The U17 Chinese women’s football team gained something even after losing, inspiring the whole team to meet challenges with a pragmatic attitude

On October 23, in the second round of the U17 Women's World Cup group stage, the Chinese team lost 2-5 to the United States. "Tonight News" wrote an article that pouring cold water on the girls at the right time is not necessarily a bad thing. It can encourage the whole team to adopt a more pragmatic attitude to meet the next challenges.

Reviewing this game, the Chinese team’s tactical deployment was slightly radical. Facing the last third place team, the United States, coach Wang Hongliang formed a single defensive midfielder formation to engage in a fierce battle with the opponent. In terms of personal skills, the Chinese team is not far behind. Zhou Xinyi's world wave, which opened the scoring, fully demonstrated her creativity and superb footwork. But in terms of physical condition, especially in terms of confrontation ability, the disadvantages of the girls are visible to the naked eye. In this case, it is difficult for the single defensive midfielder formation to effectively limit the US team's offensive advancement. Due to the lack of defense and response from the midfielders and backcourt players, the Chinese team's defense line was constantly being torn open, leading to the loss of 5 goals in a row.

In the previous four-month preparation period, the Chinese team only had warm-up sessions with the North Korean team and had limited opportunities for actual training. This is the first time that the Chinese team has faced the top three opponents in the world. Especially when it defeated the European runner-up Norway with 5 goals in the first round, the hard battle encountered in this campaign can easily make the girls feel a sense of gap, which will then affect the state of the game. However, although there is a certain gap in strength between the Chinese team and the American team, it is not out of reach to score points against them. Judging from the overall performance in the past two games, the girls have shown good tacit understanding and finishing ability in the offensive link. If they can be more pragmatic in terms of formation and technical and tactical deployment, take into account the balance of offense and defense, or put down their bodies at the right time and prioritize tightening the fence, there is actually a chance to create difficulties for the world's strongest teams, including the United States team.

In another match in the same group, the Ecuador team defeated the Norwegian team 2-0. After this round, they have the same record of 1 win and 1 loss as the Chinese team. However, the Chinese team has a three-goal difference advantage. In the direct dialogue with the Ecuador team in the final round of the group stage, if it is not defeated, it will lock in the second place in the group. Even if it loses, it will have the opportunity to compete to become the third place among the four best groups and advance to the top 16. In this way, the girls can take off their burdens and compete with their opponents while enjoying the game. It is foreseeable that in this key battle for promotion, the Chinese team will not be conservative. After all, striving for a good group ranking will help the girls go further in this tournament.