The challenge is huge, but the Vietnamese women's team will overcome difficulties to bring back the best possible results. Photo: VFF
The matches in Uzbekistan promise to be very challenging for coach Mai Duc Chung and his team as the opponents are all very strong. Therefore, the “Diamond Girls” will once again overcome difficulties to repeat the achievements they made 3 years ago.
Difficult task
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers, the Vietnamese women's team made history for the country's football when they participated in the third qualifying round for the first time. Not stopping there, the Vietnamese girls also set another memorable milestone when they entered the play-off round (losing to the Australian women's team after 2 matches). The achievement in the Olympic qualifying round at that time was considered an important stepping stone for coach Mai Duc Chung and his team to write a new page in the history of Vietnamese football with a historic ticket to the 2023 Women's World Cup Finals. After 3 years, fans are expecting the "Diamond Girls" to repeat the same achievement in the 2024 Paris Olympic Qualifiers.
However, this will not be an easy task as coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will have a challenging journey ahead. In the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Vietnamese women's team (ranked 34th in the world) is in the same group with Japan (ranked 8th in the world), host Uzbekistan (ranked 50th in the world) and India (ranked 61st in the world). With this qualifying round only giving 4 spots to the top 3 teams and the second-placed team with the best results, the Vietnamese women's team will face many difficulties to enter the third qualifying round.
The goal of coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will be to get second place in the group because Japan - the reigning champion of the 19th Asian Games is too superior, this team also just beat us 7-0 in the group stage of the 19th Asian Games. The Vietnamese women's team will aim to win all points against Uzbekistan and India and try to get a draw or lose with the smallest possible gap against Japan. However, to complete this goal is not simple. Remember at the recent 19th Asian Games, although the Vietnamese women's team beat Nepal 2-0 and Bangladesh 6-1, the 0-7 loss to Japan caused coach Mai Duc Chung and his team to stop right at the group stage, when they could not be among the top second-placed teams with the best results.
Compared to the 19th Asian Games, the group of the second qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics for the Vietnamese women's team is even more difficult. The Japanese women's team will certainly participate with a strong force that is not inferior when they won the 19th Asian Games, the host Uzbekistan also shows great ambition, especially when they just entered the semi-finals of the 19th Asian Games, while India has also made a lot of progress recently. Although the Vietnamese women's team has a higher ranking, it is not easy to beat the remaining two opponents, especially the host Uzbekistan.
In the second qualifying round of the 2024 Olympics, the Vietnamese women's team is in the same group with the number 1 women's team in Asia.
Do your best
Even if the Vietnamese women's team completes its goal of finishing second in its group, it still cannot decide on its own ticket to the third qualifying round. Since there is only one spot for the second-placed team with the best record, the competition in the remaining two groups (Group A: Australia, Chinese Taipei, Philippines and Iran; Group B: China, South Korea, Thailand and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) will also be very fierce. Especially in Group B, after many years of absence, the DPRK women's team has returned to the continental arena and brought many difficulties to teams such as Vietnam, Thailand, Chinese Taipei or the Philippines in competing in the World Cup or Olympic qualifiers. At the recent 19th Asian Games, this team also reached the final and only lost to Japan. According to experts, the competition for the third qualifying round and the official ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics for Asian teams is even more difficult than the World Cup.
Of course, the Vietnamese women's team has high expectations from fans in the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics, especially when the team has just participated in the 2023 World Cup. But to do what they did 3 years ago is not simple. The recent failure at the 19th Asian Games also shows the difficulties the Vietnamese girls are facing, especially when the team is in the process of rejuvenating its force. Of course, the "Diamond Girls" also have a clear goal when coming to Uzbekistan and they will fight with all their might for that goal, for the flag and the fans, just like what they did in previous campaigns in the World Cup qualifiers, Tokyo Olympics or SEA Games. Coach Mai Duc Chung affirmed: “The Vietnamese women’s team will participate in the second qualifying round with opponents Japan, India and Uzbekistan. We have also determined in advance that the teams in this round will all be strong opponents, but with confidence and solidarity, we will try our best to achieve the best results.”
NGOC LY
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