Vietnam women's team avoids Korea and China
The Vietnamese women's team has completed the 2026 Asian Cup qualifying journey with 3 complete victories at home ground Viet Tri ( Phu Tho province). Coach Mai Duc Chung and his team defeated Maldives (7-0), UAE (6-0) and Guam Island (4-0) to top Group E with 9 points, scoring 17 goals and conceding no goals.
The Vietnamese women's team has become one of 12 representatives to participate in the 2026 Asian Cup finals, taking place in Australia next year. The remaining teams that have already secured tickets include Australia (host), China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Uzbekistan.
Vietnam women's team wins all matches in Asian Cup 2026 qualifiers
PHOTO: MINH TU
The final ticket to the final round will be determined after Group A ends. This group includes Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Singapore and Bhutan, starting today, July 7. Similar to 2022, the 2026 Asian Cup Finals will include 12 competing teams, divided into 3 groups according to seeding.
Based on the FIFA rankings, the Vietnamese women's team is in the second seed pot along with China and South Korea. Pot 1 includes hosts Australia, Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Pot 3 includes the Philippines, Taiwan and Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, the final pot has India, Bangladesh and the last team to qualify (most likely Iran or Jordan).
With the seeding system based on FIFA rankings (applied for the first time), the Vietnamese women's team has an advantage when it is certain to avoid Korea and China. Meanwhile, the teams in groups three and four are all at the same level, or lower than Vietnam. The risk of being in the "death group" with Japan, Korea and Myanmar like in the 2022 Asian Cup is no longer there.
The 12 teams are divided into 3 groups (A, B, C), each group has 4 teams. The first, second and 2 third-place teams with the best results will qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2026 Asian Cup. Notably, the 2026 Asian Cup will seek Asian representatives to attend the 2027 World Cup. Therefore, if they have good results, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will win tickets to the World Cup.
specifically, the 4 semi-finalists will win 4 direct tickets to the World Cup. The 4 losing teams in the quarter-finals will be divided into 2 play-off pairs. The 2 play-off winners will win tickets to the World Cup, while the 2 play-off losers will have to face each other to find the team representing Asia in the intercontinental play-off.
Vietnam women's team wants to win tickets to the World Cup again
PHOTO: MINH TU
Thus, just passing the group stage, the Vietnamese women's team will be very close to a ticket to the 2027 World Cup. Coach Mai Duc Chung and his team need to win the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals, which means getting an official ticket, or if they lose the quarter-finals, the whole team needs to win the play-off match to get to the World Cup.
With 6.5 tickets to the 2027 World Cup, the door to the world playground has opened wide for Asian teams.
Reenacting historical journey
"Until now, we still cannot forget the journey in 2022. The whole team won tickets to the World Cup in the most miraculous way," a member of the Vietnamese women's team recounted.
The Vietnamese women's team participated in the 2022 Asian Cup in India three years ago without most of their squad right before the tournament due to Covid-19. However, the players have made efforts to recover and return. After losing the first two matches with the same score of 0-3 against Japan and South Korea, the Vietnamese women's team drew 2-2 with Myanmar in the final match to finish third in Group C, earning a ticket to the quarterfinals as one of the two best third-placed teams.
Despite losing 1-3 to China in the quarter-finals, the Vietnamese women's team played excellently in the play-off round when they beat Thailand (2-0) and Taiwan (2-1) to win a ticket to the World Cup.
It is a journey of perseverance and courage. After 3 years, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team are determined to repeat this historic journey. In addition to the original squad, Mr. Chung will look for more young faces (like Ngoc Minh Chuyen) and overseas Vietnamese players (like Nguyen Hoang Nam Mi, Chelsea Le) to strengthen the Vietnamese women's team.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cua-du-world-cup-cua-doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-rong-mo-hon-bao-gio-het-185250707160008846.htm
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