International Friendlies 2025

Looks like China and South Korea will use it as preparation for AFC Cup.

 

Semifinals
Papua New Guinea Gold - Solomon Islands 5:0(2:0)
Waida(19), Padio(40,52), Elipas(69), Kalapai(83)


Fiji - Vanuatu 3:1(0:0)
Naweni(47), Leba(69), Nasau(90+1) - Simon(72)

 

Slovakia senior will play the USA u-23 quite an unsual friendly the England u-23 will play the USA u-23.

 

Third place
Solomon Islands - Vanuatu 2:4(2:1)
Rotoava(15), Gogoni(32) - Kaltack(24), Simon(54,66), Poida(70)


Final
Papua New Guinea Gold - Fiji 3:0(1:0)
Kaipu(45+2p), Padio(49), Butubu(66)

 

Unofficial match I guess...

DPR Korea 5-2 Russia
Ri Myong-gum 19', Myong Yu-jong 30' 60'(p.), Han Jin-hong 73', Kim Song-gyong 87' --- Zharkova 8', Kozhnikova 50'

 

Why should it be unofficial? It's listed on fifa.com.

 

AUSTRALIA 5 - 0 NEW ZEALAND
Sayer 13', Raso 24', Carpenter 70', Cooney-Cross 71' , Gorry 90'+2
(att: 20 519)


JAPAN 3 - 0 CANADA
Tanikawa 43', Tanaka 51', Fujino 68'
(att: 8 634)


PORTUGAL 1 - 2 NETHERLANDS
Faria 68' --- Grant 21', Wilms 23'


NORWAY 3 - 1 BRAZIL
Gaupset 11' 52', Hegerberg 69' --- Mariza 44'


SWITZERLAND 1 - 2 BELGIUM
Lehman 64' --- Deloose 36', de Caigny 73'

 

I couldn't find highlights of USA-Italy yet.

 

USA 3 - 0 ITALY
Moultrie 2', Macario 64' 76'

 

ENGLAND 8 - 0 CHINA
Mead 12′ 14′, Hemp 16′, Stanway 23′ 38′(k.) 52′, Toone 71′, Russo 78′
(att: 74 611)


Imo the CFA (Chinese Football Association), whose members are appointed or affiliated with the Chinese Comunist Party (CPC) , stubbornly continues beating a dead horse.
Chinese women, who were a powerhouse in women's football 20-30 years ago, are now "expected' by the party officials to return to the pedestal and compete with the West. Significant financial investments in youth teams and the senior team in recent years, the hiring of foreign experts and the professional CWSL league were all intended to help the Steel Roses regain their place among the world's elite.
Well... on paper, it all looked really nice, but the problem was that it didn't stand up to reality.

The people responsible for women's football at the CFA are often amateurs with no knowledge of the sport, let alone women's football. Their subordinates are usually "confidence man", who, having some basic knowledge of football, advise their superiors on what they want to hear.
Most often: I'll get you success but gimme more funds to hire a Western coach.
The money, which flows freely, is wasted because the local football associations are just as entrenched as the CFA, and everyone wants a big piece of the pie. (A year or two ago, a corruption scandal in Chinese football involved over 43 people across 41 clubs). The selection process for woso players at the local level is outdated and based on a public school system rather than professional scouting. There are almost no dedicated women's football academies. The grassroots level is in its infancy. Although the professional CWSL has raised the level of the players to some extent, it largely wastes its potential (and money) due to the lack of a proper selection process at earlier stages. Foreign players and coaches cash in on a hefty cheques, but rarely spend more than a season or two in China. Covid and withdrawal of sponsors funding at the club level didn't help either.

The entire women's football system in China is in need of a general overhaul. Meanwhile, party officials in CFA stubbornly continue sending Chinese WNT to play against the best teams in the world and expecting better results.

Will anything change in Chinese football after this result? I don't think so. The next batch of party officials will come along with their ‘experts’, who will probably advise something like: reform is too expensive, it's better to save the money for ourselves and use whats left to find 23 huge women who are suitable for basketball and teach them to play football.

 

Great summary, let me recap the whole for lazy readers: communism in football doesn't work (as in any other human activity).

 

Brilliant post, thank you! This paints a bleak picture of the Chinese Association. Now the question is, why did we lose against them in AFC? XD

 

I would not call it a powerhouse in women's football. Perhaps a trailblazer during earlier WWCs, not a powerhouse. Otherwise, it would be easy to list renowned CHN players from that era. Can we do it without Wikipedia, though?

CHN plays in one of the weakest confeds at the moment: less than six years ago, AFC gave us a 29th-FIFA-ranked squad which was destroyed at the world stage... THA in 2019 WWC.

CHN has little incentive to challenge itself because AFC is an easy region for qualification:
- For 2023 WWC qualification, all CHN had to do was advance from AFC WAC group phase (2 of 4 teams went thru), go straight into QFs and win that match: a total of 4 scheduled matches, but CHN played just 3 because IRN withdrew.

Picture it: just play 3 rivals and you can enter a WWC. Not even NZL enjoyed such a fast-track (5 matches in 2018 OFC qualifiers).

WWC qualification bar will be much lower in 2031, thanks to a 50% expansion with 48 WWC teams. CHN will be on easy street, if it wasn't already.