Nanjing: China PR head coach Hesterine de Reus is under no illusions as to the quality of her team’s AFC U-19 semi-final opponents Japan, but, come what may, she sees the crucial match as an opportunity for her young team to learn.
A win will see the Young Steel Roses return to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup after missing out in 2016, but the experienced Dutchwoman said her team is focusing solely on the 90 minutes ahead.
“Of course playing in a world Cup is fantastic for players,” said the former head coach of Australia and Jordan’s women’s national teams.
“That’s a great opportunity to further your talent because all the matches there are at a really high level - but to play there, you first have to win a ticket, so we’re not focusing on the ticket, we’re focusing on the next match and that match is against Japan.
“Football is all about playing to win, but we also realise it’s a very difficult job because Japan is a very strong team in this tournament.
“Our players play in youth leagues, so it’s a big, big, big step up to play against one of the top nations, but that’s also a challenge and an opportunity to learn from this tournament.”
Chasing their first AFC U-19 Women’s title since 2006, China won their first two matches, before falling to a 2-0 defeat against a very strong DPR Korea outfit in their most recent fixture.
Meanwhile, four-time winners Japan were head and shoulders above their Group B opponents, cruising into the semi-finals with 15 goals in three matches against Vietnam, Australia and Korea Republic.
China have enjoyed an extra day of rest ahead of the blockbuster semi-final, but – with Japanese head coach Futsohi Ikeda (pictured above) rotating his squad more than any other in Nanjing – de Reus maintains that won’t be a factor.
“Yes, we have had an extra day but you could see that Japan rotated their players and most of their best players didn’t play three matches,” she said.
“All the other teams, more or less, played their strongest teams, so I think Japan are more rested than all the other teams.”
Former Urawa Reds defender Ikeda, who rates the Chinese team’s technical qualities highly, said the extension of his squad’s competition into a second week will provide long term benefits to his players.
“First of all, I’m happy that we won our first three matches and qualified for the semi finals,” he said.
“The players can now play five matches in this tournament, and they will take away precious experiences.”
The two sides met in Duyun just six weeks ago – with Japan seconds away from securing victory, before Wang Yanwen equalised in stoppage time, in a match which reflected a history of close encounters between the teams.
Despite Japan’s historical dominance of the tournament as a whole, they have only beaten China once in seven AFC U-19 Women’s Championship matches, with five ending in draws after 90 minutes.
Japan v China PR – AFC U-19 Women’s Championship Head to Head
Year Result Stage Venue 2002 Japan 1-1 (3-1 pen.) China PR Semi-final Goa, India 2004 China PR 1-0 Japan Group Stage Suzhou, China PR 2006 China PR 1-1 (5-3 pen.) Japan Semi-final Kuala Lumpur, Malaysi 2009 Japan 1-1 China PR Group Stage Wuhan, China PR 2011 Japan 1-1 China PR Round Robin Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2013 Japan 2-2 China PR Round Robin Nanjing, China 2015 Japan 3-2 China PR Group Stage Nanjing, China
Photos: AFC
Source: the-afc.com