Women s Football World Cup, the Chinese women s football team suffered a clean sheet, the favorites were upset 7-8, and the mysterious team lost 6-1

The 2025 U17 Women’s Football World Cup is in full swing in Morocco. In the past few editions of the U17 Women's World Cup, 16 teams participated, divided into four groups, with the top two teams in each group qualifying. Now FIFA has expanded it to 24 teams, divided into 6 groups, and the knockout stage teams have been expanded to 16 teams.

The Chinese women’s football team is in Group C with the United States, Ecuador and Norway. In the end, the Chinese team secured second place in the group with 6 points and entered the knockout rounds for the first time since participating in 2012, ending a 13-year wait.

In the 1/8 finals of the knockout stage, the Brazilian U17 women's football team faced the Chinese U17 women's football team.

The head coach of the Chinese U17 women's football team has selected the starting lineup headed by goalkeeper Niu Ziqi. The defense consists of He Yuanqi, Cai Xinlin, Chen Yuying and Zeng Yijie. The midfielder consists of Xu Xiaotang, Song Yu and Zhou Xinyi. The frontcourt consists of Chen Ruilin, Yu Tianzhen and Huang Qinyi forming the offensive line. This young team showed strong offensive firepower in the group stage, scoring 11 goals in three games, but the problems exposed on the defensive end were particularly obvious in the game against the United States team.

The Brazilian team had an ups and downs performance in the group stage. It defeated the host Morocco 3-0 in the first game and was tied 1-1 by Costa Rica in the second game. After losing to Italy 3-4 in the final round, it ranked second in the group with one win, one draw and one loss. This South American team has exquisite skills and outstanding personal abilities, but there are hidden dangers in defensive stability.

The game kicked off, and the Brazilian team showed a strong offensive from the beginning. In the third minute, Brazilian forward Kelan received a long pass from the backcourt and volleyed from a small angle on the right side of the penalty area to help the team quickly take the lead. After conceding the goal, the Chinese women's football team did not panic. In the eighth minute, Yu Tianzhen got a single chance, but the shot was blocked by the opponent's goalkeeper. Zhou Xinyi then became the most active player on the field. First, her volley hit the crossbar in the 11th minute, and five minutes later, her push shot in the penalty area was bravely saved by the goalkeeper. The Chinese team has an advantage in ball possession rate of 55%, but the quality of the final kick has become a key factor restricting scoring.

The turning point of the game came in the 34th minute. The main center back Chen Yuying collided with the opponent's player's head during the battle for the top and was forced to retire due to injury. The young player Zhang Kecan was ordered to come on as a substitute. In the stoppage time of the first half, the newly debuted defender fouled in the penalty area and sent a penalty kick. Fortunately, Brazilian player Marina knocked the ball away, and the Chinese team was lucky enough to stay one goal behind.

In the second half, the Chinese team tried to strengthen its attack. However, in the 53rd minute, Brazilian player Evelin cut in from the right and made a huge impact. The ball hit the dead center of the goal. Five minutes later, the Chinese team failed to intercept in the midfield. Evelin sent a precise through ball. Giovanna followed up and succeeded, expanding the score to 3-0. Although Xu Yue's header at the end of the game was quite threatening, it failed to change the score in the end. The Chinese women's football team stopped in the top 16 with a score of 0-3.

In another focus match, the US team, the favorite to win the championship, faced the Netherlands.

The U.S. team showed terrifying offensive power in the group stage, winning all three games, scoring 13 goals and conceding only two, including a 5-2 victory over the Chinese team. As a powerful European team, the Netherlands narrowly defeated Cameroon 4-3 in the group stage, lost to Mexico 0-1, and suffered a disastrous defeat to North Korea 0-5. They narrowly qualified as the third best team in the group.

The progress of the game was beyond everyone's expectations. The Dutch team got a dream start with Pennock's push shot. Although the American team equalized the score in the 57th minute through Mikayla, the game was dragged into a penalty shootout. In the penalty shootout, the Dutch team narrowly won 7-6, and the total score was 8-7, which upset the favorites.

The most shocking game came from the showdown between the host Morocco and the North Korean team.

The North Korean team, known as the "mysterious team" by fans, won all three games in the group stage, including a 5-0 victory over the Netherlands.

Only 60 seconds into the game, forward Liu Jiongxiang scored a lightning goal, and Yin Jinyu expanded the score in the tenth minute. Before the end of the first half, North Korea scored two more goals and entered the locker room with a 4-0 disparity. In the second half, Ryu Kyung-hyang scored twice and Lee Jin-ah scored two goals. Although Morocco scored a consolation goal at the end of the game, the North Korean team finally advanced with a disparity of 6-1.