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Olympic Outlook: Not Optimistic for National Women's Soccer Team
Out of China's soccer team, basketball team and volleyball team, the women's soccer team have the greatest hopes of winning in the Sydney Games. China's high level leadership has reportedly set the goal of winning the gold for the Chinese women's soccer team. But there are many signs that it will be difficult for the Chinese women's soccer team to win the gold in Sydney.
The Chinese women's soccer team entered a series of international competitions, but the results were not as good as hoped for. The Chinese team lost to the Norwegian team twice, once in Portugal and another time in Germany, which had lost to Chinese team 5:0 in the World Cup. In the Pacific Cup and America Gold Cup, the Chinese team lost to the Brazil team and Canadian team, teams they had never lost to before. The Chinese team beat the Americans 1:0 on a disputed call and only played well for half a match during their 1:1 draw against the US in Germany.
Their recent record has uncovered many problems on the Chinese women's soccer team, making it very difficult to be optimistic for the Olympics.
1) Physical strength is a concern
Physical strength has continued to plague the Chinese women's team and it has become very obvious this year. In many competitions, the team play well for half the match then become passive and change techniques in the second half due to a lack of physical strength.
2) Team Members Are Getting Older
Because few youngsters have the ability to star on the Chinese team, the problem of aging team members is still serious. Currently, the defense, midfield and offense are filled with veterans and the lineup has not changed much since last year's World Cup. Since there has been fill the shoes of the frontline, Shui Qingxia, the thirty-four year old veteran from Shanghai, was rejoined the national team this year. Although she played well in some important competitions, her age showed.
3) Technique Remains the Same
The Chinese women soccer team has become a marked target for other countries. Their opponents know the team's technique like the back of their hand and have adopted ways to counter it. On the other hand, the Chinese team continue to use the same tactics. In the past, Chinese team was good at individual technique and adopted advanced tactics to attack. Now their opponents stick to the Chinese players so they can't get open for the ball. The opponents cut the passing lanes of Chinese team and breakthrough the weak in left flank of the Chinese team. The defense often give their opponents opportunities because they're not sure who they should follow and cover.
4) Injuries
In the Pacific Cup, two of the Chinese team's key players were hurt. Liu Ying broke her ribcage and had to come back to Beijing for hospitalization. And Sun Wen didn't play because she hurt her knee. Although people say their injuries won't affect how they do in the Olympics, the Chinese women have lost many warming-up opportunities. It is difficult to say that how much they will recover in the Olympics.
5) Being put in the "Death Group"
China, America, Norway and Nigeria have been put in the "death group" for the Olympics. All three opponents are all worthy adversaries. The Chinese team's old foes, America, has already won three international competitions this year. The Chinese team won't have any advantages against the Americans. The Norwegian team rallied to beat China twice this year. The Nigerian team lost to the Chinese team in last year's World Cup, but it beat the Chinese team 3:4 in the World Cup trials. The Nigerian team did not enter any international competitions this year. It won't be known how good they are until the Sydney Olympics. Considering the current condition of the Chinese team, whether they can be one of the top two teams of their group will be a big problem. After Ma Yuan'an, head coach of the Chinese team, saw which group China was placed in, he said candidly that China is in a very difficult group.
6) Lack of Will to Win
After performing well in the last World Cup, the Chinese team has become complacent and many conflicts began to emerge. Ma Yuan'an has been very straightforward about this. He pointed out that the spirit of the Chinese team has changed. To change this, the team reunited again in April and went to Shi Jiazhuang Marine Academy for one month's military training. Although Ma Yuan'an said that the military training has turned the team's atmosphere around, sources close to the team say that the Chinese team's training wasn't as enthusiastic as before the World Cup.
Although people have high hopes for the Chinese women's soccer team, due to many factors, the Chinese team's journey to Sydney wasn't an easy ride and has little hope of winning the gold in the Olympic Games.
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