C CLEAR VICTORY of the women's team
Despite winning 4 points when drawing with UAE and beating Maldives, the class gap between Guam women's team and host Vietnam is still very far. In the final match on the evening of July 5 at Viet Tri Stadium ( Phu Tho ), coach Mai Duc Chung and his team continued to win 4-0 against Guam to officially win a ticket to the 2026 Asian Cup with the top spot in Group E.
Guam players are strong and healthy.
Photo: Minh Tu
Vietnam women's team wins big in 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers
Photo: MINH TU
The 4 goals scored by Bich Thuy (double), Hai Yen and Nguyen Thi Van did not fully reflect the difference in skill level. The Vietnamese women's team easily dominated the game, dominated and scored 3 quick goals in the first half.
In the second half, although the Vietnamese women's team slowed down the pace of the match, they still scored 1 more goal to complete the "4-star" victory. In the end, after 3 matches, the Vietnamese women's team had 9 points, scored 17 goals and did not concede any.
NEED TO CONTINUE RENEWAL
The Vietnamese women's team won big against the UAE, Maldives and Guam, even though two of the three opponents used naturalized players of European and American origin. This shows that the naturalization policy cannot raise the level of women's football outside the top 50 in the near future (unless the whole team is imported like the Philippines). Coach Mai Duc Chung and his team, despite being self-reliant thanks to their domestic players, still easily dominated and poured in goals.
Captain Huynh Nhu is active.
Photo: Minh Tu
However, winning a ticket to the 2026 Asian Cup Finals is only the first step on the journey of the Vietnamese women's team. The project to develop Vietnamese football until 2030, with a vision to 2045, approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, clearly states that the Vietnamese women's team strives to have a place at the 2027 and 2031 World Cups, and at least one Olympic Games in 2028 or 2032.
These are all difficult goals, as Huynh Nhu and her teammates have only participated in the World Cup once (2023) and have never had a ticket to the Olympics.
The team needs to build a strong enough force to narrow the gap with the "big sisters" group (Japan, South Korea, China, Australia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea), while maintaining its position against the rise of the Philippines and Uzbekistan. That force needs to be built on the foundation of the next generation (born after 2001) with quality, high-class young generation to replace the seniors who are about to pass the other side of their careers. At the same time, the national women's championship needs to be more competitive and classy to produce good players.
However, the transformation of Vietnamese women's football still needs time to take shape. Throughout the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers, Ngoc Minh Chuyen was the only young player to leave his mark, showing that coach Mai Duc Chung has not been able to rejuvenate the team despite having planned since the 2023 World Cup. The quality of the U.17 and U.20 teams has not been commensurate with their potential, as they lost in the Southeast Asian tournament and the Asian qualifiers. In the national championship, the number of teams has not increased for many years (only 5 localities play women's football), the quality and competitiveness are low. The rise of Thai Nguyen women's football or the ticket to the semi-finals of the Asian Women's C1 of Ho Chi Minh City women's football are just rare bright spots.
However, the Vietnamese women's team still has time to strive and a long way to go. The start has been smooth, now is the time to create a launching pad for the next journey called AFF Cup 2025, SEA Games 33 and Asian Cup 2026.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/co-ve-di-chau-a-doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-tang-mua-ban-thang-man-nhan-nhung-185250705235211779.htm
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