Defeat against Uzbekistan is a warning to the Vietnamese women's team

The Vietnamese women's team lost 0-1 to Uzbekistan in the first match of the second qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which took place on the evening of October 26. This was a surprising defeat, as Uzbekistan is only ranked 50th in the FIFA rankings (16 places below the Vietnamese women's team).

While the Vietnamese women's team has just participated in the World Cup, reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 Asian Cup, and won the Southeast Asian championship many times, the Uzbekistan women's team is just taking its first steps. Sharing with the press, player Makhliyo Sarikova affirmed that previously, Uzbekistan only had 3 clubs with training facilities, capable of paying a decent income to female players.

"Women's football is not a priority in Uzbekistan for many reasons, including cultural ones. Women are not encouraged to participate in sports , or if they do practice, they choose gymnastics or ballet," Sarikova asserted. If Uzbekistan's men's football is among the top teams in the continent, women's football is zero on the map of Asia.

Vietnam women's team lost to Uzbekistan

Until football academies began to appear in Uzbekistan, training players from 7 to 13 years old, in the past 2-3 years, investment resources have increasingly flowed into Uzbekistan women's football. The appearance of coach Honda Midori, a former Japanese player, also created a boost for the Uzbekistan women's team. Uzbekistan women's players inherently have physical advantages with ideal height, good jumping ability and the ability to maintain a physical foundation. What the Uzbekistan women's team lacks is tactics and competition discipline.

Coach Midori has brought that. With a defensive counter-attacking style of play, the Uzbekistan women's team reached the semi-finals of the 19th ASIAD, defeating Mongolia, Taiwan and now Vietnam. In the match on the evening of October 26, it was easy to see that the Uzbekistan women's team is still relatively inexperienced in terms of tactics and techniques, but overcoming this is probably just a matter of time.

The Uzbekistan women's team has competed against Hungary, Slovenia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and China in the past year. Despite heavy losses, the experience against strong teams has helped coach Midori's students improve quickly. More importantly, for countries with good football foundations and human qualities like Uzbekistan, when invested in, women's football in this country is capable of becoming a force.

Uzbekistan female player has good physique and endurance

Asian women's football has long been divided into relatively clear classes. The "big sister" group includes China, South Korea, Australia, Japan, now with the return of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (who just defeated China in the Olympic qualifiers). Group two includes Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, and India.

In big playgrounds like the Asian Cup (also a World Cup qualifier), ASIAD or Olympic qualifiers, the "big sister" group is still far ahead of the rest. Coach Mai Duc Chung admitted that the Vietnamese women's team is still far behind this group. But even compared to the teams in the same group, Huynh Nhu and her teammates must make an effort if they do not want to be surpassed.

With a squad of naturalized players, the Philippine women's team won their last two matches against Vietnam, scoring 6 goals against Kim Thanh. At the 2023 World Cup, the Philippines shocked the host country, New Zealand. In the first round of the Olympic qualifiers, the Philippines won 4-1 against Taiwan. And at the Asian Cup a year ago, the Philippines reached the semi-finals.

The Azkals women's team is surpassing Vietnam and with young, strong naturalized players from the US, the Philippines has a much brighter prospect than the Vietnamese women's team, when the mainstays have passed their prime.

At the age of 32, Huynh Nhu (9) is still the best player of the Vietnamese women's team.

When the gap with the top group is still far, the equal group has broken away, and countries with weaker women's football such as Uzbekistan, Iran, Jordan are receiving heavy investment, stagnation means regression.

In 2024, the Vietnamese women's team will only have one official tournament (AFF Cup). According to the plan of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), the focus will be on the U.20 Vietnam team, when coach Akira Ijiri and his team compete in the 2024 U.20 Asian Cup.

The young generation with potential faces like Bao Tram, Minh Chuyen, Thanh Thao, Nhat Lan are also the next generation of their seniors, and will be gradually promoted to prepare for the 2027 World Cup qualifiers, which promises to be extremely harsh and difficult when Asian women's football has seen the emergence of many new names.

The warning at the Olympics will motivate the Vietnamese women's team to restructure and prepare for bigger challenges.

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