Although China lost to Australia by three goals in the first round of the 12-team tournament, the loss did not stop the team's determination to move forward. According to Beiqing-Beijing Headlines, once the match was over, Chen Xuyuan, the chief commander of the Chinese men's football delegation and chairman of the Football Association, quickly reminded the coaching team and staff not to dwell on the loss of the first match and blame themselves, and not to let the outside world's voices affect their mentality. In the face of the long journey of the 12-team tournament, the Chinese team needs to stay awake at this moment and fully prepare for the next round of confrontation with Japan.
Facing a 0-3 defeat, the Chinese team had a more intuitive understanding of the strength gap between them and the strongest teams, and the whole team was pleased with the result of the match.
As the game came to an end, all kinds of skepticism came to the forefront. In fact, the Chinese team also quickly analyzed the reasons for their defeat, and "underestimating the opponent" became the consensus.
Chen Xuyuan did not criticize the team too much after the game, but had an in-depth communication with the coaching team and the staff of the Football Association, with the main purpose of relieving the pressure on the team and encouraging them to keep up the good work.
Chen Xuyuan specifically urged team members not to dwell on the emotions of the loss in the first game, but to turn their attention to the future. Looking back at the last 12-team tournament, the Chinese team scored only one point in the first four rounds, but then cut 11 points in the next six rounds, which proved the value of the team even though they failed to qualify in the end. In Chen Xuyuan's opinion, the Chinese team should not be obsessed with the momentary gains and losses, but should remain calm after recognizing the gap, and devote themselves to the subsequent preparations and matches with a rational and positive mindset.
Notably, Chen Xuyuan also reminded team members not to be swayed by external voices. He also highlighted that staff should remain optimistic, show smiles and maintain a positive mindset in their daily work and life.
After the first round of matches, the focus of the Chinese team quickly shifted to the 2nd round of the 12-team tournament against Japan. The coaching team reviewed the game to find the team's technical and tactical deficiencies in time and planned to improve them in the next training.
According to the plan, the Chinese team will continue to train at the Qatar University training ground at 8 p.m. local time on September 3rd. Chen Xuyuan and other members of the Association's forward working group will be in the training an hour and a half before the field, a small group confrontation, in order to motivate the team, to help them as soon as possible to get out of the shadow of the first loss, to go all out in preparation for the battle between China and Japan.
