China was once a women’s soccer superpower. This year’s World Cup is a first step in reclaiming that status

 

With a tied score and two minutes left to play after a stunning second-half comeback, China’s women’s soccer team finally scored the goal that had eluded them for 16 years.

That winning goal, which earned the team their first AFC Asian Cup since 2006, reverberated across the country. Fans who’d long been left hungry for glory from a mens or womens national team scrawled exuberant posts on social media, and at least one prominent sportscaster admitting to crying tears of joy.

Eighteen months later, that win also landed the team at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where the team and its coach Shui Qingxia have a chance to show that was just the opening shot in China’s rise to reclaim its place as a dominant force in the women’s sport.

“We will fight game by game,” vowed head coach Shui, who is a veteran of the golden era of Chinese women’s soccer – a period that saw the team take silver in the 1996 Olympics and lose the 1999 World Cup by a single penalty kick against long time rivals the United States.

Much has changed in the women’s sport since that time. The rapid development of women’s soccer programs across Europe and the Americas has fielded a new generation of powerful teams-to-beat. And China is now fighting from behind.

The team, known as the Steel Roses for their perseverance, has already lost what was considered a key match against Denmark on Saturday in Australia.

China then faced off against World Cup debutantes Haiti with 1-0 victory on Friday keeping its Group D qualification hopes alive. China secured the win despite playing for over an hour with 10 players after Zhang Rui was sent off.

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