Coach Mai Duc Chung and his team are about to 'cross the rapids' again

The Vietnamese women's team does not have many differences in terms of strength compared to the list of participants in the recent Asian Games. The U.20 Vietnamese women's star Ngoc Minh Chuyen wore the national team jersey for the first time, promising to bring new colors to the attack. But the most notable information is related to Huynh Nhu. The Vietnam Football Federation has sent a letter asking the Portuguese club Lank FC to create conditions for Huynh Nhu to return to the Vietnamese team soon. Because the FIFA Days schedule for women's football coincides with the second qualifying round of the 2024 Olympics, the Portuguese team will also easily agree to let Huynh Nhu temporarily leave the club. At the 19th ASIAD, the lack of Vietnam's number 1 female striker was also one of the main reasons leading to the heavy defeat of coach Mai Duc Chung's students against the Japanese team with a score of 0-7. In the second qualifying round of the 2024 Olympics, the Vietnamese women's team once again had to be in the same group with this "big sister".

Ngoc Minh Chuyen (right) joined the national team

VFF hopes Lank Club will create conditions for Huynh Nhu to compete in the Olympic qualifiers.

Thầy trò HLV Mai Đức Chung lại sắp 'vượt thác' - Ảnh 1. — The Vietnamese women's team ( *left* ) will soon meet a very high-class team, Japan.

The selection process for the teams that will advance to the third qualifying round of the 2024 Olympics is as intense as the ASIAD. In addition to the top 3 teams, only the best second-place team from the three groups will be selected. This means that if the Vietnamese women's team wants to get closer to their Olympic dream, Huynh Nhu, Hai Yen and their teammates will not only have to try to finish second in the group but also have to accumulate a good goal difference against competitors like India or host Uzbekistan.

Coach Mai Duc Chung shared: "The Japanese team is a very high wall not only for Vietnam, but also for many other women's teams in Asia. At ASIAD 19, we lost heavily to Japan and Japan also beat the Philippines 8-1. In other matches, Japan also won very heavily like 7-1, 8-0... Saying that is not to make people sympathize, because when we lose, it means we lose, but our level is still very far from Japan's. The Vietnamese women's team needs to practice and invest more to get good results. In the second qualifying round of the Olympics, Vietnam will try its best."

It is very difficult to create a surprise against Japan, the opportunity for the Vietnamese women's team to hope to get points is the confrontation with Uzbekistan and India. Although having a lower world ranking than Vietnam (50 compared to 32), Uzbekistan is showing remarkable progress under the leadership of Japanese coach Midori Honda. In addition to home field advantage, Uzbekistan is also rated higher than coach Mai Duc Chung and his team in terms of form at this time. The proof is that they have just entered the semi-finals of ASIAD 19. The strength of the home team is based on two stars playing in Türkiye, Shakhrizoda Zaynitdinova, Kamila Zaripova, and the scoring acumen of the striker pair Nilufar Kudratova, Diyorakhon Khabibullaeva.

The Indian women's team (ranked 61st in the world) is considered the weakest in Group C, but the Vietnamese women's team cannot be underestimated. Under the leadership of Swedish coach Thomas Dennerby and a squad of experienced players, the Indian women's team in the group stage of ASIAD 19 showed that they are not an easy opponent when they lost to Taiwan (1-2) and Thailand (0-1).