Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

The men's football match hadn't even started yet, but the women's football match was already over.

The "Steel Roses," who advanced to the quarterfinals as group winners, faced their old rivals, the Japanese women's national team, in the quarterfinals.

Compared to the men's football team, the women's football team has consistently performed well in the past, and even won the Asian Cup again in the last two years, so the outside world has higher expectations for them than for the men's football team.

Some optimistic fans even believe that the women's football team has a chance to reach the final and compete for the gold medal.

At the very least, we can make it to the semifinals and try to win a bronze medal or something.

However, in the match held in Qinhuangdao, Japan took advantage of a corner kick opportunity in the first half to score the first goal with a header from Homare Sawa, and in the second half, Yuki Nagasato scored again with a one-on-one goal.

The Chinese women's football team trailed throughout the match and ultimately lost 0-2 to Japan, failing to advance to the semi-finals.

Since their best result of winning silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the Chinese women's football team has never missed an Olympic Games, but they have never been able to reach the semi-finals again.

Moreover, this marks the ninth consecutive year that the Chinese women's football team has failed to reach the semi-finals of a major international tournament since winning the runner-up title at the 1999 Women's World Cup.

The performance of the women's football team shows that after the retirement of veterans from the golden generation led by Sun Wen, the Chinese women's football team entered a period of decline.

This issue was originally quite prominent, but because the men's football team declined much faster than the women's football team during the same period, everyone's attention and anger were drawn to the men's football team, and very few people paid attention to the women's football team.

When people mention women's football, they still think of the "Steel Roses" who won seven consecutive championships, but little do they know that this women's football team is no longer as strong as it used to be.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the women's football team suffered their biggest defeat in history, losing 0-8 to Germany in a single match.

Actually, the women's football team was no longer at its peak from that time onwards.

Compared to that time, the women's football team has made considerable progress by securing first place in their group and advancing to the knockout stage.

However, the results of the quarterfinals were far from what everyone expected.

Especially given the improved performance of the men's football team and the lack of a counterpart to help mitigate the damage for the women's team, their elimination seems rather abrupt.

I think women's football also needs to be strengthened. It's unacceptable that while men's football is improving, women's football is falling back to its lowest point. Can't they rise simultaneously?

[It's quite difficult, isn't it? Previously, both men's and women's football relied entirely on state-run sports teams. Now, men's football has started developing professional youth training, while women's football is still largely reliant on state-run teams. The Chinese Super League, after the crackdown on organized crime, is now quite well-organized, but the women's professional league is clearly at an amateur level. There are few participating teams, the competition system is unreasonable, and there's not even promotion or relegation. Without a professional league platform to train players, what's the use of just training camps and field trips?]

Yes, they need to play more matches. Look at the US women's soccer team; the reason they're so strong is because school soccer is so popular. It not only provides a wide pool of talent, but also ensures that female players have plenty of opportunities to play. The more matches they play, the more experience they gain, and the better players will stand out.

If all else fails, we could learn from the Japanese women's football team next door and see how they do it!

Yes, the Japanese women's football team is quite strong. I remember that in the Asian Cup a couple of years ago, the only match our women's team lost was against Japan. Luckily, Japan was eventually eliminated by Australia, otherwise we might not have won that Asian Cup.

In recent years, the Japanese women's football team has made rapid progress and has gradually become a formidable opponent for the Chinese team.

The last defeat could be covered up by the final Asian Cup title, but this time, losing to Japan again can no longer be covered up.

They were forced to tear off the fig leaf covering themselves, exposing the problems clearly to everyone and forcing everyone to face reality.

However, the general public is much more tolerant of women's football. They did not criticize women's football as they did men's football in the past. Instead, they offered suggestions and ideas for the development of women's football.

The problems with women's football boil down to two things: no players and no matches.

The lack of a professional women's football league has resulted in all the players relying on local football association funding, leaving them with no ability to generate their own income.

Furthermore, because there is no financial prospect, it is difficult to attract young girls to enter the football industry, resulting in fewer and fewer reserve talents and a narrower pool of potential candidates.

This problem is the same in all countries around the world. It is only the United States that has developed a strong school football system by relying on its strong national power and huge financial subsidies, resulting in more than 300 million registered female football players, more than all other countries combined.

With more people playing, the overall skill level naturally increases, which is the secret to the US women's national team's long-standing dominance in the football world.

But other countries can't learn this trick, since no one can spend money like the Americans.

European countries, however, began to try a different approach: building a similar professional women's football system based on the existing professional men's football league system.

Using the mature industry of men's football, we can develop a professional women's football league at a relatively low cost.

If successful, it will enable women's football to achieve a virtuous cycle of self-sufficiency and self-development; even if it fails, the financial investment will not be significant.

European women's football players earn very low salaries, with their average annual income potentially lower than that of the average working class in the region.

Even including venue fees, training fees, nutrition fees, and travel expenses, the cost of maintaining a women's football team is probably lower than the annual salary of a male star player in a major top club.

After all, at this point, the top salaries in major clubs had already exceeded 600 million euros, and in the Premier League, they were even approaching 1000 million euros.

Although it's uncertain whether the Europeans' attempt will succeed, it's still a possible path.

Given that China's national conditions preclude it from adopting the American model, it must either continue with the sports team model, which has reached a dead end, or learn from and emulate the Europeans' professional league plans.

However, salaries in the Chinese Super League are already low, and the cost of supporting a women's football team would be too high for any Chinese Super League club.

In addition, Chinese fan culture is far less developed than in Europe, with no teams deeply rooted in the community, resulting in a weak sense of belonging among fans of various teams.

The reason people watch the Chinese Super League is simply because there are so many Chinese people.

Under these circumstances, directly establishing a Women's Super League is clearly a bit unrealistic. Expecting people to go and watch a Women's Super League that is even less entertaining than the Chinese Super League is simply wishful thinking.

Therefore, in the initial stage, financial allocations from the Football Association are indispensable.

Otherwise, if it's entirely left to professional clubs, their enthusiasm for such a clearly unprofitable venture will inevitably be low. In short, compared to the men's team's gradual improvement, the future of women's football is bleak.

If we can't even solve the problem of generating our own income, how can we talk about the future?

The women's team's loss didn't have a big impact on the men's team; at most, people felt sorry for the women's team after learning the result of the match.

Time flies, and soon it was time for the competition.

Unlike Shenyang, Beijing (BJ) is the host city of the Olympics, with a large number of matches taking place every day, which will severely divert the audience.

Because of the long-standing weakness of Chinese football, and the fact that the opponent in this round is not a top team from Europe or Latin America.

So before the game, everyone thought there wouldn't be many fans watching the game live. However, when they arrived at the Workers' Stadium, they were surprised to find the stands packed with fans.

The stands at the Workers' Stadium were almost entirely filled with Chinese fans, with very few Cameroonian fans present to support the away team.

The fans in the capital were exceptionally enthusiastic and hospitable. As the national Olympic team players warmed up, the fans in the stands were already creating various cheers and encouragement for the Chinese players on the field.

Besides ordinary fans, a group of special people were also present at the match – IOC President Jacques Rogge and FIFA President Sepp Blatter attended the game together.

When the camera captured the two, cheers erupted from the crowd as enthusiastic Chinese fans welcomed the two guests who had traveled from afar.

Facing the camera, the two smiled and waved. After sitting down, they seemed to be talking quietly, sparking speculation among the public.

Although the Olympics have little to do with FIFA, FIFA President Sepp Blatter contributed significantly to the Beijing Olympics.

As early as last year, he clearly expressed his support for the Beijing Olympics and demanded that all clubs not set any barriers for players who meet the age requirements, especially stars like Lin Feng and Messi, and that they must ensure that they participate in this Olympics.

It was thanks to his lobbying efforts that the major clubs had no choice but to cooperate and release the young players, giving them extra time and allowing a host of young stars to participate in the Olympics. This made the football competition at the Olympics star-studded and received unprecedented attention.

Although the final is still a long way off, everyone is already looking forward to seeing the clash between Lin Feng and Messi, these two rising stars, on the field.

Imagine if Real Madrid and Barcelona refused to release the players and instead recalled them early for the new season's preparations; the excitement of the football matches at this Olympics would certainly be greatly diminished.

It is precisely because of FIFA's efforts, especially Blatter's own, at the Beijing Olympics that people are wondering if FIFA and the International Olympic Committee are finally going to reconcile.
The relationship between the International Olympic Committee and FIFA is not good due to differences in interests.

In its early years, FIFA was relatively unknown and in a weak position compared to the International Olympic Committee, so it wanted to use the Olympic Games as a platform to promote football.

Football matches are simple, straightforward, and exciting. Plus, they are played by a group of professional players. Compared to other sports that are filled with a large number of amateur athletes, football matches are obviously much more exciting, so they naturally become the focus of attention for spectators.

Seeing that football matches were too popular and attracted a large number of spectators, the International Olympic Committee worried that football would dominate the sport. Therefore, in 1925, it introduced a regulation requiring that participating players be amateur players and prohibiting professional players from participating.

This regulation naturally provoked strong dissatisfaction from FIFA, and the two sides had a very unpleasant falling out.

In a fit of anger, FIFA established its own international tournament, the World Cup, in 1930, and began to develop independently from the International Olympic Committee.

After FIFA went its separate ways, the Olympic football event, which relied entirely on amateur players, became a sideline, and such matches between amateur players simply couldn't attract any audiences.

As a result, a large number of football fans went to support the World Cup, which caused the World Cup's popularity to rise, and in recent years it has gradually shown a trend of catching up with or even surpassing the Olympics.

Seeing the situation was not good, the International Olympic Committee had no choice but to seek a compromise with FIFA. However, in order to avoid losing popularity to the Olympics, FIFA refused to settle and took the initiative to ban professional players from participating in the Games.

However, because FIFA's actions have harmed the interests of various countries, it is unacceptable that countries with a number of excellent players cannot represent their countries and win glory for them at the Olympic Games.

Under pressure from various countries, FIFA had no choice but to compromise and gradually relaxed restrictions on professional players' participation after 1980, but added another restriction - prohibiting players under the age of 23 from participating.

Until the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, under pressure from the United States, both the IOC and FIFA made concessions, with FIFA further relaxing restrictions to allow three over-age players to participate.

This move made this Olympics the most luxurious and star-studded event in the history of Olympic football.

Thanks to the participation of many star players, the football event at the Atlanta Olympics was a great success. Although the team that ultimately won the championship was not the team full of stars, but a dark horse, it did not diminish its greatness in the slightest.

Given their previous collaboration, there is widespread expectation that FIFA and the International Olympic Committee can further reconcile and gradually lift all restrictions in the future, restoring the original state where players of all ages are allowed to participate.

However, neither the International Olympic Committee nor FIFA took any action in the subsequent two Olympic Games, which greatly disappointed the fans.

Seeing the president of the International Olympic Committee and the president of FIFA appear together now inevitably leads to speculation about this.

It's clearly too late for the Beijing Olympics this time. Does this mean that FIFA will further relax restrictions on players and allow more over-age players to participate in the next London Olympics?
If this is true, then the football competition at the next Olympics will be something to look forward to.

If restrictions can be further relaxed, even if the Olympics are not as prestigious as the World Cup, they can still be viewed as a mini-World Cup.

The arrival of the two big names further attracted more fans to watch the live broadcast of the game.

Because it was a knockout stage, both teams were extremely cautious after the match began, and neither dared to launch an attack on the other rashly.

For the first eight minutes, both sides were constantly pulling and probing each other, without even a single shot on goal.

Even so, the fans who came to the scene were still cheering loudly for their team, and did not find the game boring at all.

During the stalemate, the Cameroonian team was the first to lose their composure.

In the 10th minute, Cameroon launched a counter-attack after intercepting the ball in midfield. Songo crossed the ball from the right wing into the box, where Becamanga and Chinese defender Li Weifeng both fell in front of the goal.

Many fans, upon seeing this, immediately stood up and looked towards the field with tense expressions.

No way, the match has only just begun, and the Chinese team is already conceding a penalty? (End of Chapter)