CFA helps Team China prepare for 2019 Women's World Cup

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The Chinese Football Association (CFA) made changes to the schedule of the domestic women's soccer tournaments to help women's national team prepare for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, reported Titan Sports on Monday.

The schedule of Chinese Women's Super League (CWSL), China Women's League One and CFA Women's Cup are among the domestic soccer tournaments that will be affected.

According to the domestic calendar released by CFA, 2019 CWSL and 2019 Women's League One will not begin until the World Cup comes to an end in July. Meanwhile, no member of the national team will be required to attend 2019 CFA Women's Cup or any other domestic tournament in the first half of 2019.

Team China are currently training in Australia and plan to play about 10 friendship games with local teams, including both men's and women's teams. Considering that there's no FIFA International Match Day in December, Team China will not play against Team Australia.

Team Germany line up before their game against France at the line up before the SheBelieves Cup. /VCG Photo

The team will return to China on January 13, 2019 to prepare for the Four Nations Tournament in late January in Meizhou City of southern China's Guangdong Province. Canada and South Korea have both agreed to attend. CFA is looking for a European team as the fourth participant.

Having been put in Group B, Team China will compete with Germany, Spain and South Africa. Ranking No. 2 in the world, Germany gave China a tough time. For example, back at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Germany crashed China 8-0 at the group stage. Two years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Germany again put an end to China's Olympic trip with a 1-0 in the quarter-final.

Team Spain celebrate after winning the championship of the 2018 U17 Women's World Cup. /VCG Photo

Spain have been underestimated for years but thanks to the country's decent youth development system, their national team were able to pick players from a quality talent pool. Spain's youth teams won two continental titles (U17 and U19), claimed the championship of the U17 World Cup and got the second position at the U20 World Cup.

China must beat South Africa, the easiest opponent in Group B. A win by a larger margin will help them in case they are one of the four No. 3 teams and are judged by performance.