Vietnam's U20 women's team entered the final match of the second qualifying round of the 2024 AFC U20 Women's Championship with a relaxed mentality.
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| Players of the Vietnam U20 women's team and the Australia U20 women's team. (Source: VFF) |
The home team quickly secured a ticket to the final round after two 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 the Australian U20 women's team, the Vietnamese U20 women's team 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 without 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 players lost the ball in the midfield area.
Instead of passing the ball to her teammate, midfielder Alana Murphy took a beautiful long-range shot from more than 30 meters away, defeating goalkeeper Kieu My to open the score for the Australian U20 women's match.
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 for the Australian U20 women's team.
With nothing left to lose, coach Akira Ijiri made personnel adjustments and asked his players to push the entire squad to the opponent's field. The Vietnam U20 women's team immediately forced the opponent to retreat deep to defend.
The Australian U20 women's team chose a solid playing style and built a large defense in front of the goal. In such a situation, the Vietnamese U20 women's team could not penetrate the opponent's net and had to accept a regrettable defeat.
Commenting on the match, head coach of the Vietnam U20 women's team Ijiri Akira said: "The players tried their best, but losing today's match is my fault. We have met Australia 3 times but have never scored a goal.
I think the players need to improve their technique. I have been working in Vietnam since 2019, currently there are 6 players in the U20 team who have been called up to the national team.
I hope that in the upcoming World Cup, the head coach will give the young players a chance because this is their future. Although they are still young, they have tried to follow their seniors and perform well in the team. I hope they will develop well in the future."
Head coach of the Australian U20 women's team Leah Blayney said that although this was a difficult qualifying round with harsh competition, the players maintained their spirit to achieve good results.
Coach Leah Blayney said: “We are ready for the finals next year. The U20 Vietnamese women's team is a strong team, plays well, and is well organized.
They had a good tournament, they have improved well in recent years so in continental tournaments they play well and are highly competitive with their opponents."
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| Ranking of Group A, second qualifying round of the 2024 AFC U20 Women's Championship. |
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