The national football team lost to New Zealand. Coach Shao Jiayi: This is an objective gap. I have confidence in the future.

Cover news reporter Ji Xing Chen Yuxiao reporting from Chongqing

On September 27, the Chinese team lost 0-3 to New Zealand in the 2026 CFA China Team·Chongqing International Football Invitational Tournament. At the post-match press conference, Chinese team head coach Shao Jiayi said frankly: This is an objective gap between the two teams.

Shao Jiayi first said at the beginning, “Whether from the perspective of the game process or the result, New Zealand deserves a complete victory. I think this is actually the real gap between the two teams.” But he was very satisfied with the discipline, organization, and desire to compete displayed by the players. “We will sum up when we go back. I told them in the locker room just now that this is our real gap. If we stand at a higher position in the future, we must win games like this. So we still have a lot of road to go and a lot of work to do.”

In Shao Jiayi’s tactical philosophy, defense occupies a very important position. Regarding today’s opponent, Shao Jiayi said, “I think I am very happy with the process and attitude shown by New Zealand in the game today. Because they take this game very seriously, their players on the field are basically the main players, as well as the core players who have participated in the World Cup. The tactics, calmness, and rhythm they showed in the game are all things we cannot achieve at this stage.”

Shao Jiayi said when taking stock of the game, “If we can be more patient and more unified on the court, maybe we will be better in terms of score, and we may not concede three goals today. Of course, this is the responsibility of the coaches. There are still two games in the future. I believe we can quickly recover and adjust in the next games and better improve our offense and defense.”

This game included Zhang Aihui, Huang Shenghao and other players who debuted in adult national jerseys for the first time. Shao Jiayi was satisfied with the performance of the young players and also emphasized, “The feeling of ease they have in the league is not available in this kind of real international competition. We cannot blame them for this, because our league does not yet have this real quality.”

The important goal of this invitational tournament is to simulate the Saudi Asian Cup in January 2027 and prepare for the Chinese team to find opponents with similar group stage styles. The New Zealand team in this game is targeting teams such as Iran and Syria in the group stage.

When answering the cover news question about the training effect of this game, Shao Jiayi objectively pointed out, “This is the real rhythm of international competitions. In my opinion, this is not enough to truly reach the European rhythm, but it is already difficult for us to accept. This is the real scene. So I am also very grateful to New Zealand for taking this game seriously. Although it is a friendly match, they are very serious on the court and respect this game.”

Shao Jiayi emphasized, “This taught our players a good lesson, just like how we played against Cameroon in Australia in March. This is a real international game. I think this game at least made our young players sober and stopped living in the 3-0 result of the last game in the Maldives. This is the opponent we will face next, this is our goal, and this is the opponent we will defeat in the future.”