The Asian Cup semi-finals of the 5-a-side women s football team lost to Thailand, and the Chinese team still has a chance to advance to the World Cup

On May 15, the 2025 AFC Women's Fifteen Football Asian Cup continued to compete in the semi-finals in Hohhot, with the Chinese team losing 2-3 to Thailand. If the Chinese team can defeat Iran in the next third-place competition, the Chinese team still has a chance to advance to the World Cup.

After the last big victory over Indonesia, the Chinese team reached the semi-finals of the Women's Five-a-On Asian Cup for the first time in history, only one victory was left to reach the goal of reaching the World Cup. The Thai team is currently the highest-ranked Asian five-a-side women's football team in the world. It defeated the Japanese team, one of the biggest favorites in the group stage. In the last game, facing the Hong Kong team in China, the Thai team won 5-2.

The teams entering the semi-finals are the strongest and most in good shape in this competition, and the Thai team is also the strongest opponent the Chinese team has encountered since the start of the game. They created the biggest difficulties for the Chinese team. Halfway through the first half, Thailand scored the first goal. As long as you win, you can advance to the World Cup, but you have to face the situation of falling behind for the first time in this competition. At this time, the psychological test on the Chinese team is huge. In the five-a-side football match, the two teams had a timeout in the first and second half. The leading Thai team applied for a timeout to stabilize the situation. The Chinese team seized this opportunity. Fan Yuqiu and Cao Jiayi scored two goals in a row after the game resumed, less than one minute apart. While the Chinese team overtook the score, they also fully demonstrated the exciting stimulation of the five-a-side football match. Before the end of the half, Su Jiahong caused the opponent's goalkeeper to commit a foul and was sent off with a red card. The Chinese team's counterattack in the last five minutes of the first half was very impressive.

rules stipulate that in a team of five-a-side football matches, one player is sent off by a red card, and the net game time is only 2 minutes less. After the start of the second half, after the Thai team withstood the game time of the number of players in more than one minute, the number of players on both sides returned to equal status again, with only one goal in the score gap, and the situation on the court is still quite unpredictable. In the 6th minute of the second half, the Thai team used a penalty kick to equalize the score. A few minutes later, the Thai team overtook the score again. The Chinese team took a try in the final stage of the game and also used the "5-0 tactic", but still could not rewrite the score, and eventually lost to the Thai team 2-3.

The top three teams in this tournament can qualify for the World Cup. This means that although the Chinese team lost the game, if they can win the third place battle, they can still advance to the World Cup. In another semifinal, Japan defeated Iran 3-2. On May 17, the Chinese team will hold a bronze medal match with the Iran team to compete for a World Cup ticket. The championship battle between the Japanese team and the Thai team will then be staged.