China head coach Shui hails team's fighting spirit for winning women's AFC Asian Cup

SUZHOU - Guiding China to win the AFC Women's Asian Cup after 16 years last Sunday, the Chinese team head coach Shui Qingxia, who only took charge three months ago, said the key to the victory was their fighting spirit of never giving up.

"My players restored the Steel Roses' spirit and they never gave up on the pitch. I think that's the most important reason why we could win the trophy," Shui told Xinhua in an exclusive interview via telephone on Wednesday, after Team China returned home with three consecutive comeback wins in the knock-out stage, including a shoot-out win over Japan in the semifinal and a rally from 2-0 down to overturn South Korea 3-2 in the final.

As a member of the "golden generation" of the Chinese national women's football team back in the 1990s, Shui has lifted the trophy five times in 11 years even without conceding a defeat in the tournament, forming the most dominant team in the history of the women's football in Asia.

"Compared to our generation, nowadays the Chinese players are exposed to more information, and therefore they have to face more distractions. But we have one thing in common - we always unite as one when the team is in trouble," said the 56-year-old.

"When we were 0-2 down in the final, I asked my players in the locker room if they wanted to end the game doing nothing or fighting for everyone who was watching our match back home. They all said they would go out all. At that moment, I knew we could turn the game around," Shui recalled.

The Steel Roses declined rapidly in the last decade, with the worst hit suffered at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games where former head coach Jia Xiuquan guided a much younger squad to a 5-0 loss to Brazil, a 4-4 draw with Zambia and an 8-2 loss to the Netherlands during the group stage.

When Shui, then coach of Shanghai women's club team, took over the national team in November last year, no one expected her to be a difference-maker in India in such a short time. "The women's football has developed fast in Asia and all over the World. I didn't realize that the tournament would be that hard," she noted. "We might lose games, but we will never lose in an easy way. That's my football philosophy."

Despite winning the long-awaited championship, Shui urged all the players and fans to calm down for the future goodliness. "The trophy will definitely help players restore confidence and improve their abilities, but there's still a long way to go for the Chinese team to revamp and become the top-tier team in the world again," Shui warned.

"We are far behind top European teams considering fitness and physical conditions. For the Chinese players, they need to be more confident on the pitch," she added.

The Chinese coach encourages her players to explore football overseas to improve their skills. "Tang Jiali was transferred to England women's Premiere League side Tottenham Hotspur last year, and her strengthen and skills have improved a lot there. I hope more female Chinese players could play in Europe, where they can experience different cultures and football philosophies, which will be beneficial to our growth."