Vietnam ranked second in Group A of the 2024 AFC U20 Women's Championship qualifying round 2.

(HNMO) - Despite a regrettable loss to the Australian U20 women's team, the Vietnamese U20 women's team accepted second place in Group A but soon won a ticket to the 2024 Asian U20 Women's Championship Finals.

The ball fight between U20 Vietnam women (red shirt) and U20 Australia women.

Vietnam U20 women entered the final match of the second qualifying round of the 2024 AFC U20 Women's Championship with a relaxed mentality. The home team quickly won tickets to the final round after 2 important victories against Iran U20 women and Lebanon U20 women. Against strong opponents, Vietnam U20 women still played confidently and controlled the game well. Although not overwhelming Australia U20 women, Vietnam U20 women had many beautiful coordination moves.

On the contrary, the Australian U20 women's team showed strength and often won in one-on-one situations. The first half was exciting but did not have many dangerous opportunities. Both teams entered the break with many regrets as no goals were scored.

In the second half, the Australian U20 women's team unexpectedly pushed up their formation and they got what they needed. In the 50th minute, the Vietnamese U20 women's team lost the ball in the midfield. Instead of passing the ball to her teammate, midfielder Alana Murphy took a beautiful long-range shot from more than 30m away, defeating goalkeeper Kieu My, opening the score.

The surprise goal lifted the spirits of the Australian U20 women's team. Six minutes later, Alana Murphy scored again with a "cannon shot" to double the gap.

With nothing left to lose, coach Akira Ijiri made personnel adjustments and asked his players to push the entire team to the opponent's half. The Vietnam U20 women's team immediately forced the opponent to retreat deep to defend. The Australia U20 women's team chose a solid playing style and set up a large defense in front of the goal. In such a situation, the Vietnam U20 women's team could not penetrate the opponent's net and had to accept a regrettable defeat.