Chinese women's coach Shui Qingxia upbeat ahead of East Asian Football Championship

BEIJING -- Shui Qingxia, head coach of the Chinese women's football team, said on Sunday that her team has been making steady progress and will fight for a good result at the upcoming 2022 East Asian Championship.

China has departed for Japan to compete in the regional tournament, which will be the first major tournament for the team since they won the Asian Cup in February.

In mid-May, Shui organized a two-month-long training camp in East China's Qingdao and South China's Haikou, cutting the roster from 37 players to 26.

"From what we have seen so far, our training is good, and we are strengthening our attacking and defending transitions. Of course, the team will be tested through matches," Shui said.

The 2022 East Asian Championship will be held from July 19 to 27. The first match for the Steel Roses is against Chinese Taipei on July 20.

Shui should feel relieved as star players Wang Shuang and Wu Haiyan will return to the national team from injuries.

In addition, the team will be backed by some new blood. The 21-year-old Zhang Linyan just announced to join Grasshopper Club Zurich last week. Zhang's decision also got Shui's nod.

The young midfielder might be a core player for China in the East Asian Championship and even in many future tournaments.

Besides, Tang Jiali and Shen Mengyu who played abroad have also improved a lot.

Shui noted that the Chinese team should learn more from European teams.

"Compared to European teams, we are not good enough in speed and power, so the quality of training still needs to be improved. I hope to play against more European teams in the second half of the year or next year," she said.

There will be hardly any rest after the East Asian Championship. Shui will also lead the Steel Roses to fine-tune its form in run-up to the 2023 Women's World Cup. They will travel to the United States for a month of training and play about 10 warm-up matches against local teams.

"The most important thing is to look for our shortcomings through training and improve through matches."

"The results in the Asian Cup showed that the Chinese women's football team is capable of beating any opponent. But you should conquer yourself first and then you can get a good result," Shui said.