Necessary failure of Vietnamese women's volleyball

Many lessons after losing to China

There were not many professional marks left by the Vietnamese players in the 0-3 loss to the world's 5th-ranked Chinese team in the semi-finals of the 2023 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship yesterday (September 5), because despite bringing a reserve team to the tournament, the opponent was still completely superior to the Vietnamese team. Good physique helped the Chinese players attack and "tear apart" the Vietnamese team's block, and at the same time, each time they set up the block, they created a solid wall that repelled many attacks from Thanh Thuy and Kieu Trinh. The flexible and well-coordinated playing style is also a strong point of the team that has won all prestigious volleyball tournaments from the Olympics, the World Championship, to the Asian Championship. The effective operation of the Chinese team was certainly fully recorded by the technical staff of the Vietnamese volleyball team, so that the players could be analyzed, evaluated, and learned from by the coaching staff.

Thất bại cần thiết của bóng chuyền nữ Việt Nam - Ảnh 1. — The Vietnamese women's volleyball team had to consult many times after losing to China.

Competing with a high-class team like China caused the pillars of the Vietnamese team such as Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, Hoang Thi Kieu Trinh and setter Doan Thi Lam Oanh to be mentally tense at times, leading to undesirable ball handling. In many previous matches, fans rarely saw Kieu Trinh make a simple mistake in catching the ball, Lam Oanh make a mistake in passing the ball, Thanh Thuy miss a good chance, but all of these appeared not just once but with high frequency in the match against China. When the playing state is "frozen", the players cannot release their inertia and therefore cannot show their full potential.

The encouragement from coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet helped his players gradually release the pressure to play better, especially in game 3, but it was too late and they could not surprise their opponents who were too strong. The bright spot of the Vietnamese team in the match against China came from the quick attacks and drop shots of Bich Thuy and Nguyen Thi Trinh, which needed to be brought into play at the right times in the match.

Hunting for tickets to the world championship

The defeat against China in the semi-finals is not the end for the Vietnamese women's volleyball team at the 2023 Asian Championship, because coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet and his team still have a third-place match against Japan (Japan lost to Thailand 2-3 in the other semi-final). The third-place match is not only meaningful for Tran Thi Thanh Thuy and her teammates to hunt for the first medal for Vietnamese women's volleyball at the Asian Championship, but if successful, we will also win a place to participate in the 2025 World Volleyball Championship (for the 3 teams ranked first, second, and third in Asia). Therefore, right after the match with China, the entire Vietnamese team focused on recovering their physical strength to prepare for the third-place match taking place at 3:00 p.m. today (September 6). Japan (ranked 8th in the world) is a more highly regarded opponent than the Vietnamese team. However, with high determination and experience gained from each match, the Vietnamese team is expected to create a surprise such as defeating the Korean team (ranked 35th in the world, ranked 4th in Asia) in the group stage.

The third-place match of the Asian Championship is also the last match of the Vietnamese women's volleyball team before going to Hangzhou (China) to participate in ASIAD 19 at the end of this month. According to the draw results, the Vietnamese team is in Group C with Korea and Nepal, and is fully capable of qualifying for the next round. It is a pity that the number 1 hitter Tran Thi Thanh Thuy cannot join the Vietnamese women's team to participate in ASIAD 19, because right after the Asian Championship, she will return to Japan to train and compete for the PFU Bluecats Club. The Vietnam Volleyball Federation did not reach an agreement with this club to "release" Thanh Thuy to compete in ASIAD 19, so the Vietnamese team had to suffer a loss. Previously, Thanh Thuy was supposed to return to Japan in June, but she still stayed to contribute to the team in the World Challenge Cup, SEA V.League, VTV Cup, and Asian Championship.

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