Five against Real Madrid. Six against Bayern Munich. Three against Manchester City.
China needed four days to score 14 goals against three European academy sides and complete the group stage of the Shanghai Future Star Cup without conceding.
The U17 national team won all three matches and collected nine points. Real Madrid progressed with four; Manchester City and Bayern dropped into the matches for fifth to eighth place.
The results do not establish a hierarchy between the clubs’ senior teams. China are fielding a national side preparing for a World Cup, while their opponents are academy teams representing three clubs.
But they do show what happened when those sides met on the same pitch.
Nine scorers for 14 goals
China began on Sunday with a 5-0 victory over Real Madrid.
Zhao Siqing opened the scoring in the eighth minute and also claimed the fourth. Between her two goals, Fang Zhenzhu scored three of her own to complete the competition’s first hat-trick.
Less than 24 hours later, head coach Ma Xiaoxu changed much of the starting XI. The result barely changed.
Wu Yichen scored after two minutes against Bayern. Li Qixian extended the lead before half-time, and Deng Jingjie, Xu Xiaotang, Wang Chenxi and Cheng Wandi completed the 6-0 victory in the second half.
The final group test came against a Manchester City side still hoping to reach the semi-finals.
He Hanruo put China ahead in the 29th minute. Li Qixian scored the second in the 71st, and Wang Chenxi completed the 3-0 victory one minute from time.
Fang finished the group stage with three goals. Zhao, Li and Wang scored two each. Five other players contributed one.
China did not depend on a single goalscorer and maintained their output despite the rotations and changes of system.
A World Cup-bound national team against three academies
The eight Future Star Cup participants are not directly equivalent structures.
China are competing with their U17 national team. Shanghai provide a local representative side, while the other six entrants belong to the academies of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Arsenal, Paris FC and Real Sociedad.
The results do not mean that China’s senior national team are stronger than those clubs’ first teams. Nor do they mean that the European academies necessarily brought every one of their best eligible players.
The value of the comparison lies elsewhere: a national team in camp faced three different European development systems in four days, while those academies encountered a type of opponent they cannot meet in their domestic competitions.
China are using the tournament to prepare for the U17 Women’s World Cup, which Morocco will host from 17 October to 7 November.
They secured qualification in May by defeating India 3-0 in the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup quarter-finals. China will face the United States, Samoa and Kenya in their World Cup group.
After the opening match, Ma said the team’s development was approximately 70 per cent complete and identified competitive experience and the ability to react during matches as areas still requiring improvement.
Three victories do not complete that process. They do provide three matches that would be difficult to reproduce in a conventional training camp.
Real Madrid recovered; City did not
The opening 5-0 defeat did not eliminate Real Madrid.
Eric Moreno’s side came from behind against Manchester City in their second match. Amelia Cocorullo put the English team ahead, Madrid equalised before half-time and María González —Raúl’s daughter— scored the winner in the 55th minute.
A 1-1 draw with Bayern in the final round allowed Madrid to finish second, one point above City.
| Group A | Points | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| China U17 | 9 | 14-0 |
| Real Madrid | 4 | 3-7 |
| Manchester City | 3 | 4-6 |
| Bayern Munich | 1 | 2-10 |
City went from winning their opening match to losing the next two. Bayern completed the group without a victory and having conceded ten goals.
Real Sociedad missed out with a better goal difference
The second group did not have such a dominant team.
Shanghai finished first with five points after defeating Paris FC 3-2 and drawing with Arsenal and Real Sociedad.
Arsenal and Real Sociedad both collected four points. Real Sociedad had the better goal difference, but the tournament used their head-to-head result as the tiebreaker: Arsenal had won their meeting 2-1 and progressed to the semi-finals.
| Group B | Points | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai | 5 | 6-5 |
| Arsenal | 4 | 4-4 |
| Real Sociedad | 4 | 6-5 |
| Paris FC | 3 | 5-7 |
Real Sociedad lost their opening match, defeated Paris FC 4-2 and drew 1-1 with Shanghai after María Mostajo equalised in stoppage time.
Paris FC, who finished bottom, managed to defeat Arsenal 1-0 in the final round. It was their first victory, but not enough to reach the top four.
Shanghai eliminate Real Madrid
The title phase began on Thursday.
Shanghai defeated Real Madrid 2-0 to become the first finalists in the history of the women’s competition. Madrid will play for third place on Saturday.
Real Sociedad, Manchester City, Bayern and Paris FC are competing for positions five to eight. Real Sociedad began that phase with a 5-0 victory over Bayern.
The final will be played on Saturday 22 August at 18:30 in Shanghai —10:30 UTC—. Only then will the first women’s Future Star Cup have its champion.
