Being in Hanoi for the past few days to watch the Vietnamese women's team practice in preparation for the 2023 World Cup, New York Times journalist Jere Longman shared some surprising things.
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| Vietnam women's team returns home after SEA Games 32. (Source: VFF) |
Jere Longman is an experienced journalist with many years of experience covering sports. Jere Longman has worked for the New York Times (USA) since 1993.
When he learned that the Vietnamese women's team was in the same group as the US team at the 2023 Women's World Cup, Mr. Longman decided to come to Vietnam to learn more about coach Mai Duc Chung's team.
Regarding the Vietnamese women's football team, journalist Jere Longman shared on Morning Express (India): "The draw results put the Vietnamese women's team and the US team in the same group at the World Cup.
Many Americans find that interesting. The Vietnamese women's team has had significant improvements in performance in recent years."
Journalist Jere Longman added: "By participating in the World Cup, the Vietnamese women's team is already a strong team. Therefore, I want to be here to learn about this team."
Mr. Jere Longman elaborated on the significance of the World Cup for football teams participating in the tournament for the first time, including Vietnamese women's football.
A New York Times journalist commented: "By participating in the World Cup, Vietnamese female players can proudly say that they will compete with world-class teams like the US or the Netherlands. This will certainly be a launching pad for your women's football, helping women's football receive more investment."
"Facing strong opponents at the World Cup will help the Vietnamese women's team improve in many aspects, creating a premise for Vietnamese female players to go further in the future.
Currently, the Vietnamese women's team has striker Huynh Nhu playing in Portugal. Playing abroad helps Huynh Nhu get in touch with new football philosophies, improving her skills and football mindset," added journalist Jere Longman.
To prepare for the 2023 World Cup journey next July, the Vietnamese women's football team will train in Germany.
In this European country, coach Mai Duc Chung's team will have "heavy" friendly matches, notably against the Polish women's team and the German U23 women's team.
Germany is also one of the world's women's football powers, so the Vietnamese women's football team training and competing with German representatives is also an important step forward in terms of investment level, as well as vision for expanding the development of Vietnamese women's football, as the New York Times journalist just mentioned.
With his experience writing about sports, as well as his experience following women's soccer in the US, Mr. Jere Longman pointed out some similarities between women's soccer in the two countries.
Journalist Jere Longman shared: "Many years ago, developing women's soccer in the US was not simple, I think Vietnam also encountered some similar difficulties.
Soccer in general is not the most popular sport in the US, and neither is women's soccer, so it has not received much investment. Then, the players and the American soccer community gradually overcame the difficulties.
In Vietnam, football is the number one sport, but finding female players is not easy, because school football in Vietnam is not popular.
Vietnamese women's football also faces difficulties, but current achievements show that Vietnamese women's football is on the right track."
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