It took Shui Qingxia almost 90 minutes to emerge for her post-match media duties, with China’s coach keeping her players in the dressing room long after the final whistle brought a merciful end to a mauling that highlighted how far the nation has fallen from their lofty peak.
England won 6-1 in Adelaide to send China out of the Women’s World Cup, but with referee Casey Rebeilt ruling out a first-half strike that should have resulted in Lauren James scoring a hat-trick, and Lucy Bronze also hitting the post with a header, the margin of defeat could have been far greater.
For a nation that once ruled the women’s game in Asia and habitually challenged the world’s best, this was a humiliation that ranked along with their 8-2 dismantling by the Netherlands at the Olympic Games in Tokyo barely two years ago.
That loss in part cost Jia Xiujuan his job as head coach and resulted in Shui’s appointment in November 2021, with the common denominator between both of those heavy defeats the presence of Sarina Wiegman.
The Dutch coach was in charge of her native country in Japan and it was Wiegman on the touchline at Hindmarsh Stadium on Tuesday, having switched to working with the English in 2021, guiding them to the Women’s Euro title last year and now preparing for a last 16 meeting with Nigeria on August 7.
There are no such appointments for China, who are heading home despondent. Three points from three games saw Shui’s team finish third in Group D – behind England and Denmark – as the gulf between the reigning Asian champions and the best in Europe grows by the tournament.
“It’s very unfortunate that we had this terrible loss,” a crestfallen Shui said when she eventually emerged. “I think, for us, it’s a process of seeing the gap between us and them.
“Going forward, we will need to evaluate the gap properly and then find ways to improve and work harder. We need to analyse and find the things to improve in the future.”
Shui was an accomplished midfielder during her playing days, so few will understand better than the 56-year-old the heights from which China have fallen.
She was a member of the Chinese side that won the silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games and only missed the country’s run to the 1999 Women’s World Cup final, where they lost on penalties to the United States, because of injury.
After the humbling defeat by England those days seem further away than ever, leaving Shui promising to do the work necessary to try to bridge the growing chasm.
“We are not going to see this gap and do nothing, but rather we will do things like [work on] transition and balance and physicality,” Shui said.
“I want to evaluate these shortcomings and work harder on them because we have more games to come in the future. So this generation’s efforts will help the generations that follow.”
In a packed calendar, though, Shui has little time to make significant changes. She will lead her team into the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September and October before the next round of Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games begins in late October, where the Chinese are set to face South Korea, North Korea and Thailand.
With an eye on the future, Shui introduced Shen Mengyu, Wang Linlin and Dou Jiaxing from the bench for the latter stages in Adelaide as she sought to expose the next generation to top-class competition and start that rebuilding process.
“These young players have huge room for improvement so I wanted to let them have a taste of the World Cup,” she said.
“For young players I think the most important thing is to keep playing games at a higher level and through these games to improve themselves, to work better on their details and to the connections with teammates.
“I think this experience for them is more important and it will contribute to their development and growth later.”