Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifiers: Vietnam Women's Team Conquers Challenges

To win a ticket to the next round, the Vietnamese women's team must win by as many points as possible against host Uzbekistan in the opening match of the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics taking place at 7:00 p.m. today (October 26).

Huynh Nhu promises to shine in the match against Uzbekistan - Photo: NK

Placed in Group C with the number 1 Asian women's team, Japan, the Vietnamese women's team has no hope of competing for the top spot to directly enter the third qualifying round. Instead, the spot for the second-placed team with the best performance in the three groups is more practical for coach Mai Duc Chung and his team.

Don't forget the lesson of Asiad 19

Being placed in a moderate group at the 19th Asian Games, the Vietnamese women's team was eliminated early after only winning against weak opponent Nepal 2-0 and losing to Japan 0-7. In the race for 1 of the 3 best second-placed teams to enter the quarter-finals of the 19th Asian Games , the Vietnamese girls were inferior to their opponents in terms of goal difference. Therefore, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team need to learn from their experiences to achieve the best result against Uzbekistan.

On the FIFA rankings, Uzbekistan women's team is ranked 50th in the world, 16 places below Vietnam women's team. However, the gap between the two teams is not much. That is because the three previous meetings between the two teams were all close 2-1 with two victories for Vietnam women's team. More importantly, the strength of the two teams has also changed a lot. Specifically, while Vietnam women's team has shown signs of slowing down due to strong rejuvenation, Uzbekistan has shown a lot of progress since joining coach Midori Honda.

The 4th place at the 19th Asian Games is a clear demonstration of the success of the Uzbekistan women's team in more than a year and a half working with the Japanese coach. Among them, it is impossible not to mention Uzbekistan's 2-1 victory in extra time against the world's 38th ranked opponent Taiwan in the quarter-finals.

Vietnam women's team players practice in Uzbekistan to prepare for tonight's match - Photo: VFF

Hope for Huynh Nhu

Compared to the 19th Asiad, the Vietnamese women's team participating in the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics has the presence of striker Huynh Nhu after Lank FC agreed to release her. This is also the player expected to help the Vietnamese women's team play better and win a ticket to the third qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

At the age of 32, Huynh Nhu just scored for Lank FC in round 5 of the Portuguese Women's Championship 2023-2024. The goal demonstrated all the strengths of the captain of the Vietnamese women's team when breaking the offside trap to receive the ball, calmly finishing with her left foot when facing the SC Braga goalkeeper. Because Uzbekistan and India both have much better technical quality than Nepal and Bangladesh at the 19th Asiad, the attacking power of the Vietnamese women's team will increase significantly with Huynh Nhu. Because she is so familiar with coach Mai Duc Chung's playing style, having only one training session with the whole team on the afternoon of October 25 is not a problem for Huynh Nhu.

Improving the attacking ability to score many goals, but coach Mai Duc Chung also needs to build a solid defense system for the Vietnamese women's team. Because as mentioned above, the Uzbekistan women's team has made significant progress in recent times. A strong physical foundation and good physique have helped the Uzbekistan women's team play a diverse attack when combining small coordination and sharp overlapping. In addition, the home field is another big advantage for Uzbekistan in the confrontation with the Vietnamese women's team.

Tuoitre.vn