Vietnam women's team is tired of looking for talent
Finishing only third in the 2025 AFF Cup can be considered a step back for the Vietnamese women's team, in the context that coach Mai Duc Chung and his students possess the most experienced squad in the tournament, having fought in the World Cup, Asian Cup and ASIAD.
Despite having many experienced players such as Bich Thuy, Huynh Nhu, Hai Yen, Thai Thi Thao..., Coach Mai Duc Chung's students are limited in terms of physique, ability to compete and youth. In key matches such as the semi-finals and the third place match, Mr. Chung did not field any U.23 players. The number of players over 1.7 m tall and truly "thick" can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The Vietnamese women's team (red shirts) lost to Australia due to the difference in physique and strength.
PHOTO: MINH TU
The reform of the force with young elements, in which the highlight is overseas Vietnamese, was mentioned by coach Mai Duc Chung 3 years ago. After the 0-4 loss to the Philippines in the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2022, Mr. Chung shared with Thanh Nien Newspaper: "The Vietnamese women's team needs good overseas Vietnamese, those who have been trained abroad, have good physique, and are bold in the international arena. So when they come here, we don't need to train them again, but can use them right away."
However, for many reasons, such as limited player resources, ineffective scouting and searching, and the national women's football championship has not been open to overseas Vietnamese for a long time... Coach Mai Duc Chung's plans are still only on paper.
The story of overseas Vietnamese in the Vietnamese women's team is in a state of limbo: the good ones do not have citizenship, and the ones with citizenship are... not good. The cases of Chelsea Le and Nguyen Hoang Nam Mi are examples.
Chelsea Le (born in 2001) has shone at the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club, continuously scoring goals to help the team win the 2025 Women's National Cup. Not only coach Mai Duc Chung, many experts also evaluate Chelsea Le as having a comprehensive physique, technical and tactical skills, and a combative playing style. She is the type of striker that the Vietnamese women's team always desires, especially when the generation of Huynh Nhu and Hai Yen are both getting old.
Chelsea Le (right) is good, but has no nationality yet.
PHOTO: MINH TU
However, Chelsea Le's citizenship application process is very difficult and seems to be stuck at the background check step. Mr. Lam Le, Chelsea Le's father, confirmed to Thanh Nien Newspaper: "The family is trying to complete the naturalization procedure for Chelsea Le, but our efforts over the past many years have not yielded results. We need support from Vietnam."
Meanwhile, coach Mai Duc Chung emphasized that naturalization depends on the player's family, and Chelsea Le needs to play more at Vietnamese clubs to prove his ability.
On the other hand, midfielder Nam Mi (born in 2005) already had Vietnamese nationality when she was in Canada (because both her parents are Vietnamese), but she did not have enough competitive ability. Nam Mi was constantly reminded by coach Mai Duc Chung about her technique, passing mindset, movement... Therefore, after 1 month of being given the opportunity, the Vietnamese-Canadian player could not stay.
As for Nam Mi, she already has citizenship, but... it's not good yet.
PHOTO: VUONG ANH
New door
In the 2025 National Cup, the organizing committee has allowed teams to use overseas Vietnamese players. The same thing can happen in the national championship, when clubs can register overseas Vietnamese to strengthen their strength. A women's club has contacted Chelsea Le and her sister Kyah Le to bring both of them back to the country to compete this season. That is a positive sign.
Besides the self-efforts of overseas Vietnamese players, women's football also needs to be more open to players of foreign origin, from creating a mechanism for overseas Vietnamese to return home to contribute.
Only when clubs diligently seek out overseas Vietnamese, let them return home to compete and prove their class, will the Vietnamese women's team have the resources to innovate. Something new needs to appear in the women's national championship, which has been familiar with the old operating routine for many years.
At the Asian Cup and ASIAD, the Vietnamese women's team will face tougher opponents than what we have faced (Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand) in Southeast Asia. The current force is good, but not enough. We need to rejuvenate, we need overseas Vietnamese. To do that, we need to think and act more boldly.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cau-thu-viet-kieu-tai-nang-o-dau-doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-dang-doi-185250824062937205.htm
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