Ride on the victory

VHO - The Vietnamese women's football team has successfully completed the initial goal set by the Coaching Board, which was to pass the group stage of the 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship with 9 absolute points after 3 wins, scoring 14 goals and conceding no goals.

With stable performance and high spirit, the Vietnamese women's team is determined to get good results in the semi-finals.

The "Diamond Girls" not only have home field advantage, but are also in very good form, ready to face the next challenge in their journey to keep the Championship Cup in Vietnam.

Courage to speak up

In Group A, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will compete with Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand in a round robin to compete for the top two spots in the semi-finals. After the first two matches, the Vietnamese women's team won 6-0 and 7-0 against Cambodia and Indonesia, respectively.

However, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team faced a lot of pressure when they were only ranked second and had to beat the Thai women's team to take the top spot in the group. Facing difficulties and seemingly going through a tough match, Huynh Nhu and her teammates made it much easier thanks to the experience and bravery of the team that participated in the World Cup.

The 1-0 scoreline did not fully reflect the superiority of the Vietnamese women's team over the Thais. Facing the desire and youth of their opponents, the Vietnamese girls showed their experience and bravery. They pressed well, forcing their opponents to give up their short-ball strengths and switch to long-ball play.

Throughout the match, the Thai women's team could not create any truly dangerous opportunities in front of Kim Thanh's goal. Their attacks were not difficult for the home team's defense to neutralize.

On the contrary, the Vietnamese women's team played coherently, coordinated and controlled the match very well. Missing Duong Thi Van due to injury, the team's midfield did a great job of controlling the rhythm of play and keeping a reasonable distance to control the game.

The Vietnamese women's team not only attacked and created opportunities (one of which was realized by Thu Thao in the 36th minute), but when needed, they controlled the game, making the opponent "starved for the ball".

Playing against Thailand, Coach Mai Duc Chung used his personnel very reasonably. Unlike the two previous matches against Cambodia and Indonesia, Coach Mai Duc Chung used 2/3 of the team as experienced pillars, including captain Huynh Nhu as the starting player for the first time. It was also Huynh Nhu who had a great dribble on the right wing to assist Thu Thao in scoring the only goal.

In the middle of the second half, coach Mai Duc Chung replaced Huynh Nhu with Hai Yen, and at the same time sent two "running machines" Thanh Nha and Van Su to the two wings. This change helped the Vietnamese women's team maintain pressure on the opponent. The Thais really wanted to attack but could not advance against the speed of Thanh Nha and Van Su on the two wings.

Not only did they win 3 points, but the victory over Thailand showed the best of the Vietnamese women's team. This can be considered the most unequal confrontation (in terms of game position) between the two teams in nearly a decade in regional competitions. With their current form, the "Diamond Girls" are expected to equal the record of 4 Southeast Asian championships of the Thais in this year's tournament.

High dose reagent

After an impressive performance in the group stage, the Vietnamese girls will face a real challenge in the semi-final match, taking place tomorrow night, August 16, when their opponent is the Australian women's team (second in Group B). The 23 players of the Australian women's team coming to Vietnam this time are mostly young faces.

Among them are some players who participated in the 2024 U20 Women's World Cup such as: Holly Furphy, Naomi Chinnama or Sofia Sakalis. Besides, coach Joe Palatsides still has the service of some names playing for top clubs in the Australian National Championship such as: Isabel Gomez, Chloe Lincoln or Amy Chessari.

With an even squad in all three lines, coach Joe Palatsides affirmed that the team is pursuing a similar football philosophy to the national team. “The tournament is not only an opportunity for our young players to adapt to a new philosophy and style of play, but also an opportunity for the players to compete in an international football environment against top teams in the region, to improve in the future,” coach Joe Palatsides shared.

Despite having a young squad, with their background in developed football, young Australian players are also considered the top candidates for the championship. In the group stage, the Australian women's team did not start well when they lost 1-2 to Myanmar.

But once they started to adapt and get into the rhythm, coach Joe Palatsides' players showed their strength when they defeated the defending champions Philippines 1-0 and Timor Leste 9-0. Like their seniors in the national team, the young Australian players have good physique and fitness, play at speed and use many aerial attack options.

However, the Australian women’s team will be at a physical disadvantage compared to the Vietnamese women’s team. In the group stage, the “Kangaroo” team had to play 3 matches in 7 days against the Philippines, Myanmar and Timor Leste while the host team only had to do this with Thailand. Not only that, the Australian women’s team also had 1 day less rest than the host team.

With the above factors, home field advantage, home crowd and favorable weather conditions, the Vietnamese women's team has many advantages in the match tomorrow night. It will certainly be a difficult match, but Huynh Nhu and her teammates will take advantage, along with thorough preparation, unity and determination to achieve victory.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/thua-thang-xong-len-161167.html