Chelsea Le's father: 'I'm still waiting for a call from coach Mai Duc Chung'

Two weeks after the 2025 Women's National Cup Finals (which ended on April 6), Chelsea Le's father, Lam Le, is waiting for news that his daughter will be included in the squad for the Vietnam women's national team. The team will gather and play a friendly match with Bremen in May to prepare for the 2026 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers.

Along with Ashley Tonthat Tram Anh, Chelsea Le is a Vietnamese-origin player who played outstandingly in the recent domestic tournament. Both players expressed their desire to play for the Vietnamese women's team.

However, according to Mr. Lam, whether Chelsea can contribute to the national team or not depends on the plan of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and Mr. Mai Duc Chung. Because to be called up to the national team, players of Vietnamese origin must have Vietnamese nationality.

"It all depends on them (VFF and coach Duc Chung - PV). They have to make a request so we can proceed with the naturalization procedure for Chelsea," Mr. Lam Le told Tri Thuc - Znews . "This requires strong support from VFF and Mr. Chung. And to be honest, until now, I'm still waiting for a call from him."

Mr. Lam Le (left) with his youngest son Brady. Photo: Bao Ngoc.

Lam Le is a Vietnamese who immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 7 years old. He owns a furniture store, and his wife works for an airline. In early April, Lam and his wife put aside all their work in Washington to follow their daughter back to Vietnam.

This return is very special for Lam's family, because it could open an important turning point in Chelsea's career, a girl born in 2001, who just graduated from university with a major in engineering but aspires to be a soccer player.

Lam and his wife were present at every Chelsea match in the Women's National Cup held at the Youth Football Training Center (VYF, Hanoi ). They met and talked with Mr. Mai Duc Chung several times when this strategist came to watch.

However, all of this has only stopped at simple conversations, like "How are you? The weather is nice." Neither coach Duc Chung nor Mr. Lam proactively mentioned the main character Chelsea Le, who scored 2 goals in 3 starting matches, contributing significantly to helping the HCMC Women's Club win the championship.

"The performance at the tournament said it all. My daughter proved her ability. She really wants to be called up to the Vietnamese women's team through this tournament," said Mr. Lam.

Coach Mai Duc Chung greets Mr. Lam Le's family (in black shirt). Photo: Bao Ngoc.

Before the Vietnamese women's team played in the 2023 Women's World Cup, coach Mai Duc Chung had repeatedly expressed his desire to have the services of players of Vietnamese origin living abroad, especially players of Vietnamese-American descent such as Chelsea Le or Ashley Tram Anh.

However, the naturalization procedure is one of the major barriers preventing foreign talents from contributing to Vietnamese football. Mr. Lam himself does not yet have Vietnamese nationality.

Not only Chelsea, Mr. Lam's eldest daughter Kyah Le and youngest son (Brady) are also passionate about football and their parents have supported their dream of becoming a football player. Kyah plays for the Utah Tech University team and returned to Vietnam in 2019.

Brady, a member of the U17 team of the Barcelona Residency Academy (USA), also followed his parents to Vietnam to cheer on his sister's competition in early April. During his free time, Brady's father asked for permission to practice with the Hanoi first team, a club headquartered right near VYF.

"Both Kyah and Brady are passionate about football and desire to represent the Vietnamese national teams. Hopefully Brady can play for the U19 Vietnam team in the near future," said Mr. Lam.

After the 2025 National Women's Cup semi-final on the afternoon of April 3, Chelsea Le expressed her gratitude to the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club before saying goodbye to the team to return to the US.

Source: https://znews.vn/bo-chelsea-le-toi-van-cho-1-cuoc-goi-tu-hlv-mai-duc-chung-post1546867.html