Chinese Taipei coach Chou Tai Ying

By Etsuko Miyazaki ADELAIDE: Perhaps it is only fitting that Chinese Taipei’s return to something remotely resembling their glory days in the late seventies, is being overseen by someone who won this tournament thrice as a player.

Chou Tai Ying’s name may not be instantly recognisable to many of us now but it was a name to be feared in the 1970s, especially if you were a defender or a goalkeeper. Having had her fill of winning trophies as a player, Chou hung up her boots after the Asian Games in 1994 and turned to full-time coaching, one of the first women coaches in Asia. And now her mission is to restore China Taipei back to the top of the line in Asia.

“I want to pass on my experience to the next generation. I think this is my most important role,” said Chou on the sidelines of her team’s practice session.

“I love football very much so I want to remain involved with this atmosphere and I’d like to give something back to my country, want to contribute to women’s football. I want to help groom as many good players as possible," added the 43-year-old, who is the only woman coach in this competition.

Chou’s first brush with football came when she was 14 years old. The love affair quickly blossomed and she had broken through to the senior ranks in just four years as an unerring striker. It was in this role that she went on to torment defenders for 18 long years, winning the AFC Women’s Championship (as this event was known then) three times in a row from 1977.

The experienced Chou can tell a woman football when she sees one. “There are three things needed to become a good player. The person should love football, be willing to train hard and be able to express herself on the pitch.”

The first two things come easy, feels Chou, to aspiring women footballers. But not everybody has the gift to translate their thoughts into action in the heat of action.

“Generally, women players are willing to train hard and love the game. But to express themselves on the pitch is what they find difficult. To resolve this problem one needs experience. It takes time,” said the bespectacled Chou, who topscored for Japanese women’s outfit Shimizu Suzuyo as they won the inaugural L-League (now known as the Nadeshiko League) in 1989. She was an important member of Shimizu until 1993 and was also selected for the Dream Team of the league.

Being a woman coach has its own advantages and disadvantages. Chou should know. “There are positives and negatives. Women coaches have sometimes difficulties in treating the players very hard, in being tough. But being the same sex, we can understand each other (players) easier and better than men. Technical and tactical matters are the same.”

Speaking about her charges’ so far lacklustre performance in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, Chou said: “Since my players are young and lack experience, they cannot show their own ability under pressure. I had believed that our team could manage something in this tournament. So I was very surprised and disappointed from the result.”

Chinese Taipei went down 2-0 to China in the opening match and suffered an 11-1 defeat against Japan in their next game.

“But we cannot stop, we have to continue our efforts to improve and develop women’s football in Chinese Taipei in cooperation with the national association.”

Chou welcomed the AFC’s plans to increase the number of women coaches in Asia. “This is an excellent project and the direction is very good to develop women’s football in Asia.”