Stopping at the Asian Cup semifinals, the U20 women's football team "displayed what they should have."

Reported by Wang Wei On April 15th evening Beijing time, in the 2026 AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup semifinals held in Thailand, the Chinese team lost 0-2 to Japan, missing the final.

Both teams advanced to the semifinals with full victories. Before the match, U20 women's football head coach Colin Bell believed that despite China losing to Japan in the previous three tournaments, the team would continue their excellent performance in this edition and defeat Japan. "Even if the situation is unfavorable for us, we have the motivation to win." Colin Bell stated that his job is to prepare the team mentally, tactically, and physically to achieve the best outcome.

"We have been analyzing since day one; our scouting team watched all of Japan's matches and clearly understood their situation. They are a very tough team, excellent, and have high game intelligence." Colin Bell said this would be a test for the players.

In the first half, Japan's passing and control were very fast, with fierce pressing, aiming to seize the early initiative, while China was quite passive. Only 5 minutes into the match, Japan scored, with Itsuki Sakamoto breaking through first. Afterwards, China strengthened their attack, creating several counter-attack opportunities but failed to score. In the 24th minute, Japan's Fukushima Noa scored from a free kick, extending the lead. From the first half, Japan completely controlled the match.

In the second half, China pushed their line forward, gaining more attacking opportunities, and showed resilience in defense, successfully intercepting and neutralizing Japan's attacks multiple times. Before the match ended, Lu Jiayu's shot in a chaotic situation in front of the goal was saved. Ultimately, China lost 0-2 to their opponent, stopping at the semifinals.

After the match, Colin Bell stated: "We anticipated before the match that the opponent would try to seize the early initiative and prepared for it, but we were pushed back heavily; the transition from defense to attack was not handled well. In the second half, we had chances to turn the situation around and created several good attacking opportunities but didn't capitalize. However, I am satisfied with the courage the team displayed in the second half."

Although missing the final, advancing to the semifinals and securing qualification for the U20 World Cup in Poland this September after an 8-year gap can be considered as completing the task.

"In this tournament, our basic goal was to qualify, which has been achieved. Including the qualifiers, we won 7 matches altogether. Over the past 18 months, the girls have given everything for the team; I just want to say thank you to them." Colin Bell said, "How the Chinese team should develop in the coming years needs consideration. First, there's no need to copy other teams. In the next five to ten years, we might have hope to rank among the world's top ten, but there's still a long way to go."

Xiao Yafei said after the match that everyone gave their all and executed the technical and tactical tasks assigned by the coach. "We basically completed the task and displayed what we should have." In the other semifinal held that day, North Korea defeated South Korea 3-0 and will compete with Japan for the championship on the 18th.