Chang Wei: The AFC Champions League champion is worth remembering for a lifetime Wuhan women's football team proves the meaning of hard work

Reporter Wang Wei reports On the evening of May 24, Wuhan Chegujiang University Women's Football Team defeated Melbourne City Women's Football Team in Australia through a penalty shootout and won the first Women's AFC Champions League championship trophy, which is the first time that a Chinese women's football club has stood on the top of Asia! Recently, Chang Weiwei, head coach of Wuhan Chegujiang University Women's Football Team, accepted an exclusive interview with this reporter, reviewed the entire AFC Champions League winning process, and also shared his life insights on counterattacking and winning the championship.

◆Football: Congratulations on leading Wuhan Chegujiang University Women's Football Team to win the first Women's AFC Champions League. Since the end of the game on the evening of May 24, you have been reviewing the game, which game or detail has you remembered the most?

Chang Wei: Five days after winning the Women's Super League last year, the girls of Wuhan Chegu Jiangda immediately switched their energy to the AFC Champions League. In the first game of Abu Dhabi Village Women's Football Team, although they scored first in the opening game, they were scored twice by the opponent at the last moment and suffered a "black start". It was a very memorable game for me because it was the "black three minutes" of my coaching career.

In the second game against Malaysia's Sabah Women, we had only one way to go and try to get as many goal difference as possible, scoring three goals in the first half and four goals respectively to keep our promotion hopes alive with a 7-0 victory. In the third game, they faced South Korea's Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women's Football Team, and the opponent scored one goal each in the 43rd and 79th minutes to take away a victory from our Wuhan Women's Football Team 2-0. Although we lost, I recognize the performance of the players. In the end, we finished third in the two best groups and advanced to the quarter-finals.

◆In the knockout round, the away penalty kick win over Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds was a major turning point. How do you arrange your tactics against such a strong team?

In January this year, we drew a very strong Japanese Urawa Red Diamonds women's football team during the draw for the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League, and in order to reach the semi-finals, the Wuhan women's football team must cross the Urawa Red Diamonds women's football hurdle. At that time, I had a meeting in the team and said that Japan is a really strong team, but we have to get through this game and have no regrets. From that point on, we were thinking about the plan for this game. We used to play in the Women's Super League with a back four, but in the build-up to this AFC Champions League game, we started practising the back five tactics and spent a lot of time practising penalties and set-pieces.

It's tough to play away from home in Japan. To get to Japan, we had to take a four- or five-hour plane ride and then a four- or five-hour bus ride, and it took us almost a day to get there. When I arrived, I took my teammates to find an open place to stretch, and I told them that we were going to bring them back to Japan.

Maybe many people thought that we should win this game with less losses, as long as we played with spirit and the process was not too ugly. But I told the players that we didn't come to Japan for tourism. I also made an analogy: Mount Everest is a world-famous mountain, there are countless people who want to go to the top, and there are many heroes who have lost their lives here. Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds are definitely better than us, at the moment, they are mountains, but we have to have the confidence to climb this mountain. We were tired from coming to Japan, so all we have to do now is eat well, rest well, stock up on our fitness and then give it our all to win the game.

◆I heard that you also put smoke bombs on your opponent before this match?

In the pre-match training for that game, I had the team train with a back four. When I got back to my accommodation, I told the players that we were going to play defensive counterattacks in this game, and that we had already practiced what we should normally do, and that how much we could do depended on the unity and fighting spirit on the field, as well as the unity of thought. It wasn't until the opening whistle that Urawa Red Diamonds Women noticed a change in our formation. We set up a back five formation and caught the opponent off guard. We defended well in an all-round passive situation, and after 120 minutes we drew 0-0 and we fought to the penalty shoot-out. I changed to goalkeeper Chen Chen in the 118th minute. Chen Chen's height is more than 1.80 meters, and the Japanese players may have more psychological pressure when they see Chen Chen, but Chen Chen, who came on as a substitute, saved two goals in a row in the penalty shootout to help the team beat the opponent and advance to the semi-finals.

◆ "Football": Chen Chen should be a "penalty expert", in the final against Melbourne City Women's Football Team in Australia, she also came on as a substitute and also saved the opponent's penalty, however, in the second half of the final, Chen Chen was a passive substitution, not like the active substitution against Urawa Red Diamond Women's Football Team?

Chang Wei Wei: Ding Xuan, the starting goalkeeper in the final, had a collision with the opponent in the first half, she didn't know that she had a fracture at that time, and she said that her back hurt very much at halftime, and I told her not to insist when I heard it, I didn't want my team's injuries to get worse, and then I asked Chen Chen to prepare to play.

◆ Did you think that Chen Chen would perform so well after playing?

Ding Xuan and Chen Chen are both players I trust very much. Chen Chen is the kind of player who can put huge pressure on the opponent after the penalty shootout. Through this training in the AFC Champions League, Chen Chen's confidence has been enhanced, and everyone is more familiar with Chen Chen, and she has become an expert in saving penalty kicks.

◆Before Chen Chen came on as a substitute, did you give her a few special words?

Chen Chen has been in Wuhan Chegujiang University Women's Football Team for more than ten years, and I don't need to say anything at this time, she knows how to play. More than ten years ago, Chen Chen went to Wuhan Women's Football Team from Shenzhen Bao'an Sports School to play, and after so many years, we know each other very well, and there is no need for pre-game mobilization for her. Actually, if Ding Xuan hadn't been injured in the game, I would have been prepared a long time ago, and I would have left a place for Chen Chen to play a penalty shootout.

◆ When you fell behind by a goal in the 76th minute, how did you think about how to turn things around?

We conceded in just over 70 minutes and Melbourne City Women were very aggressive in that period and there was a lot of pressure on our backline. After conceding the goal, I asked the assistant coach to call the two substitutes right away and in the last 20 minutes we had to turn things around. Because the result of a 1-0 loss and a 2-0 loss were the same, I wanted to send a clear signal to the players on the pitch that they had to recover the score in the last 20 minutes and ask the players to attack with all their might while defending. If you don't make any substitutions or be conservative in the last 20 minutes, you will probably lose the game.

◆ "Football": 90 minutes are over, still one goal behind, according to the Internet hot phrase is "there is not much time left for Wuhan women's football team", at the critical moment, what signal did you send to the players on the field?

Chang Weiwei: Time is really tight, I told the team at the time that we still have time, there is still a chance, everyone should not loosen, do not give up. At the last moment, Deng Mengye's header caused a handball in the penalty area of the opposing player, and was awarded a penalty, Wang Shuang scored a penalty and dragged the game into extra time. In fact, the other party's physical strength was also exhausted at that time.

◆ Wang Shuang had key goals in the semifinals and finals, is this considered Wang Shuang's perfect return?

Wang Shuang is the core of the team, and if you talk about key players, I think everyone on the field is very crucial. Wang Shuang used her strong heart to complete the equalizing ball at this juncture, which is where her core value lies. Why is she Miss Asian Football? That's where her value lies. In stoppage time, the pressure is very high and it is very difficult. I think this is Wang Shuang's character, she dares to take on this pressure, this is her preciousness.

In the team, Wang Shuang was our fifth penalty kicker, and I believe in her. What makes her a good player? Because she can bear it at this moment, she has no distractions at the critical moment, she will only think about scoring the penalty, and will not think about what the consequences will be if she can't score, just like Yao Wei's first penalty, that is, dare to take responsibility, dare to step forward, and have a firm belief to complete the goal.

◆ Football: After the 120 minutes of the match against Melbourne City Women, how did you determine the order of the penalty shootout?

Chang Wei: I put Yao Wei on the first penalty, which was a lot of pressure, but I believe in her. Then I asked Wu Haiyan, how about your second penalty? Wu Haiyan said no problem. Then I gathered the players together and said to the players, you have fought hard to this time, you are already a hero, you have been recognized by everyone, now there is no win or loss, no wrong and right, you dare to go up to take the penalty is already a hero, don't have other ideas, just go up and take the penalty is already great. Everyone really stepped up like heroes and the penalties were of great quality.

◆Looking back on the whole championship process, what do you think was the biggest gain?

Sometimes I don't dare to think about the whole process because it was too difficult. If we face a game like this again, we will still try to fight hard, and we will still strive for the victory and the championship. I told the team members that history was created by you, and you must work harder and continue to make history. This journey is an experience that I think is worth remembering for the rest of my life.

◆After Wuhan Chegujiang University won the AFC Champions League, the social repercussions were huge, did you think about it beforehand?

Football is a process of hard work, it is very difficult to improve the ability of individuals and teams by training hard, and you need to love football from the bottom of your heart to do better. Through this competition, our veteran players have demonstrated their own value, and our young players have seen the fighting spirit of the veteran players, so as to improve themselves. Why did I invite Jin Huili to join the Wuhan women's football team? She is the captain of the Korean national team and has also captained the club team, and her professionalism has been a great role model for our team, and our young players have also seen and learned her spirit.

Through this competition, I think it will change the outlook on life of many team members, and they will be more focused in their usual training and games. At the social level, through the championship process of Wuhan Jiangda Women's Football Team, I believe that many people in different positions and different professions will be infected - only through hard work, can you approach or achieve your life goals!