Keep your feet on the ground.

In theory, the US team is stronger than the Dutch and Portuguese women's teams. Logically, if the Vietnamese women's team can give the US team a hard time, they can also pose a challenge to the two aforementioned European teams.

The Vietnamese women's national team (in red jerseys) during their match against the US women's national team.

But football is not like mathematics. In football, the transitive property doesn't apply. Every football match is different. Different times, different opponents, and different strategies the teams employ against each other.

The reason the Vietnamese women's team posed a challenge to the US team was because we learned a lesson from our neighbor Thailand at the 2019 World Cup. Compared to Thailand four years ago, the Vietnamese women's team approached the match against the US team more cautiously, using a much thicker defense.

Thailand made a mistake at the 2019 World Cup by "daring" to play an attacking game against the USA. Playing fast-paced, attacking football against the world's strongest team, pushing high up the pitch to score against the world's number one team, was tantamount to... suicide.

The Vietnamese women's soccer team studied this carefully, which is why they focused solely on defense when facing the US team in this year's World Cup.

But if we study the Americans, it's highly likely that the remaining opponents in Group E, including Portugal and the Netherlands, will also study us, through that very match.

Former Vice President of VFF in charge of professional affairs, Duong Vu Lam, commented: "Portugal and the Netherlands have certainly recognized the Vietnamese women's national team. They have seen where we are strong and where we are weak." The Vietnamese women's national team's strength is undoubtedly their fighting spirit, while their weaknesses, perhaps also easily identifiable, are their physique and ability to defend against aerial balls.

In the aerial duels during the recent match against the US team, except for goalkeeper Kim Thanh, who had the advantage of using both hands in the penalty area, the remaining players in the Vietnamese women's national team's defense were almost unable to touch the ball in aerial challenges.

The Netherlands and Portugal probably didn't have any trouble seeing this. They likely already had the most effective plan in mind to approach the goal of the team led by coach Mai Duc Chung.

Vietnam women's national team (right)

Another disadvantage for the Vietnamese women's team lies in the fact that, theoretically, the deeper the tournament progresses, the better the stronger teams will find their rhythm and get into shape, thanks to more time playing together. Conversely, the deeper the tournament goes, the more disadvantaged the Vietnamese women's team will become in terms of physical fitness, as the foundation and qualities of Vietnamese female players are not on par with female players in Europe, North America, and South America.

Physical fitness plays a crucial role in man-marking and chasing down opponents for the Vietnamese women's national team. Therefore, this will be the biggest challenge for coach Mai Duc Chung in the coming days.

The World Cup arena is certainly not easy, which is why coach Mai Duc Chung remains very cautious. The more successful the Vietnamese women's team is in their opening match against the USA, the more careful they need to be in subsequent matches against opponents who understand them better and better!

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-giu-doi-chan-tren-mat-dat-185230724174348632.htm