An effective use of space and a blend of offensive styles kept Team China competitive in an opening loss to Team Germany
August 12, 2025 by Jenna Weiner in Analysis, Recap
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On day one of ultimate action at the 2025 World Games, the wider world got its first real look at host country China’s prowess as they faced off against Team Germany in both teams’ opening game in Pool A play. Although the hometown heroes couldn’t pull off an upset against a steadfast German team — falling short by a 13-8 margin after the Germans reeled off four straight points to close out the game — they nonetheless impressed in their tournament opener. Read on below for my initial impressions on Team China’s offensive system and execution in their World Games debut.
Isolation Cutting is the Name of the Game
China’s offensive approach started to crystallize as early as their second goal of the game, after Ying Zhang came streaming into the backfield to receive a centering pass from Xin Li. Alongside a small complement of teammates, Zhang went nearly every other over the course of a dozen or so passes as the hosts eased into a pseudo-dominator handler set.
Throughout this sequence, there were only rare moments when four or more players were within 15 yards of the disc. And even when there were a plurality of players in the vicinity, it was following long and wide underneath cuts coming from the players downfield. If the disc weren’t sitting comfortably behind the half-field mark, you might have mistaken it for a classic isolation endzone set, with continuation cutters coming from the front of a vertical stack.
Unlike most endzone offensive sets, though, this point ended with a gorgeously weighted huck from Yu Zeng to Xiaoyun Gao as China evened the score with Germany 2-2.
Working With Width
After a dropped pull led to a quick German break to send the game to halftime up 7-4, China desperately needed a bounce back as they started the second half on offense. As a result, there could have been plenty of nerves for the hosts coming out of the halftime break in front of their home crowd, but if there were, they didn’t show. Instead, the Chinese scored with clean, clinical efficiency that exemplified the classic ultimate coach exhortation to “use the width of the field.”
Quan Mao and Bo Liu got the point started with some small-space handler movement before Lu Zhang came under on a wide cut, taking advantage of the space her defender, Germany’s Levke Walczak, had left on the open side. Getting the disc to within five yards of the far sideline: check.
However, China wasn’t intent to let themselves get trapped on that sideline, and within just a few throws they had it in the hands of Xuanxuan Wang, standing mere yards from the near sideline, albeit a clear 25 yards upfield from where Zhang had it on the far sideline. Changing the angle of attack by hitting both sidelines: mission accomplished.
With one final sequence of passes, the hosts once again went sideline to sideline as the German defense scrambled to stop the Chinese small ball (more on this in a moment), and Jiarong Guo walked in the goal for his squad. From start to finish, it was a point of pure offensive execution from the international ultimate newcomers as they displayed their class and began to climb back from their halftime deficit.
Small Ball Meets Big Ball
One notable trend in the US ultimate scene the past several years has been the emergence of a “small ball” style, dominated by tight space handler movement. That was, until small ball’s purported death last club season at the hands of club men’s team Portland Rhino Slam!, who claimed that “the deep game is back, and it’s sexier than ever.” Clearly word of that dichotomy hasn’t quite reached across the Pacific, however, as Team China demonstrated a distinct blend of “small ball” and “big ball” in their matchup against Germany.
To see this in action, we cut to China receiving with the game score at 8-5. China’s Mao and Liu combine for a series of quick opening passes before getting the disc wide to Lu Zhang, who then finds Mao cutting upline with a perfect inside low release backhand. It then just takes one throw from Mao deep to a streaking Liu to end the point, and appears on its surface as straightforward an offensive point as you could ask for.
While the end product was big ball to a tee, the final decisive motion came as a direct result of China’s small ball motion that drew the German defense in. In particular, David Metzger, who had initially been on the Liu matchup, opted to sit in the open side lane instead of following Liu deep to try and stymie the Chinese small ball movement, and was dutifully punished as Mao sent the disc over his, and the rest of the German team’s, head.
In their major international debut and in front of their home fans, it would not have been a surprise if Team China had been overawed in their World Games opener and folded to the pressure of a German team who just last World Games cycle had romped past the US in pool play. Instead, the hosts rose to the occasion with acclaim, and with offensive poise and execution that rivaled the best in the world. While they will certainly face stiffer tests to come against Japan and the US, this group of Chinese stars can hold their heads up high knowing they showed out on day one of their home World Games and are helping establish China as a real presence on the international stage.
