In their first participation in the World Cup finals, the Vietnamese women's team fell into a group that couldn't be more fierce with the presence of the US, the Netherlands and Portugal.
The situation of women's football is different from that of men's football in many ways. Going from general to specific, first of all, women's football is not as polarized as men's football. A look at the achievements at the World Cup and the Olympics clearly shows this uniformity.
At the World Cup, after 8 times of organization, there have been 4 representatives from 3 continents reaching the highest peak. They are the US (North America), Norway and Germany (Europe) and Japan (Asia). In men's football, after 22 World Cups, there are still only 2 dominant continents. Those are Europe and South America.
For representatives from other continents, the best achievement is only reaching the semi-finals (South Korea at the 2002 World Cup and Morocco at the 2022 World Cup) and both are temporary phenomena.
Interestingly, South America has never won the women's football world championship. South America's best achievement at the World Cup was Brazil's runner-up finish (2007). At the Olympics, South America has also never won a gold medal. The four teams that have won the women's football title in the seven Olympics are divided equally between North America (USA and Canada) and Europe (Germany and Norway).
On the FIFA rankings for women, in the top 20 strongest teams in the world, there are 4 representatives from Asia, including Australia (10), Japan (11), China (14), and South Korea (17).
In the men's rankings, Japan is the only Asian representative in the top 20, ranked 20th. Similarly, the US is the only representative from North America, ranked 11th. Africa also has only 2 representatives, Morocco (13) and Senegal (18).
In short, in women's football, Asia is not too far behind. In addition to Japan, who won the World Cup, China also won the runner-up position. On the contrary, Africa is completely inferior and South America, one of the cradles of world football, does not show the dominance as in men's football. In addition, North American women's football is the number one force and Europe is gradually rising to challenge this dominance.
North America’s success is largely due to the dominance of American women’s soccer. While soccer is still a strange sport for American men, the women of the US soccer team completely dominate the rest of the world.
Not only is the team at the top of the FIFA rankings and the reigning world champion, the US women's team has won the World Cup four times as well as the Olympic gold medal four times.
If the U.S. wins again, they will become the first team in football history, both men's and women's, to win the World Cup three times in a row. After eight World Cups, the U.S. women's team has won half of the trophies (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019).
In addition, the American girls have never been out of the top 3 at the World Cup. Meanwhile, in addition to being runner-up at the 2019 World Cup, the Netherlands won Euro 2017.
However, the strong rise of European women's football in recent years has made the US women's team no longer as dominant as before. If in the past, the World Cup brought the feeling of "the US team accepting the whole world", now the representative of the land of the flag is only evaluated by experts as "one of the championship candidates".
On the FIFA rankings, the Vietnamese women's team is ranked 32nd, in the top 5 in Asia, just behind the 4 "big sisters" Australia, China, Japan and South Korea. Among the teams participating in the 2023 Women's World Cup, Vietnam is not the only rookie and certainly not the lowest ranked team.
In addition to the "Golden Star Women's Warriors", there are 7 other national teams (NTT) also participating in the World Cup for the first time, including the opponent in the same group, Portugal. The reason for the large number of rookie teams is because FIFA increased the number of teams participating in the final round from 24 to 32.
The lowest-ranked women's team participating in this World Cup is Zambia, ranked 77th. More generally, there are 9 teams ranked lower than the Vietnamese women's team in the FIFA rankings.
Therefore, the position of Mai Duc Chung and his team in the international football arena is not low. Don't forget that our girls are the number one women's team in Southeast Asia, having won the AFF Cup 3 times and 8 SEA Games gold medals. In the regional arena, the Vietnamese women's team also ranked 4th at the Asian Games (Asian Games 2014).
Before Vietnam, the first representative of Southeast Asia to participate in the World Cup was Thailand. The team of the Golden Temple country reached the final round of the women's football world in 2015 and 2019. For the first time, the Thai women's team was in the same group with Germany, Norway and Ivory Coast.
They lost to Norway (0-4), Germany (0-10) and won a thrilling 3-2 victory over Ivory Coast. At the 2019 World Cup, Thailand returned home with a record of all losses against the US (0-13), Sweden (1-5) and Chile (0-2).
Therefore, when in the same group E with the defending champion USA, the defending runner-up Netherlands and Portugal (ranked 21st in the world), it is not surprising if coach Mai Duc Chung and his team have to concede many goals.
The important thing is that the "Golden Star Female Warriors" show their efforts and progress through each match and gain useful, eye-opening experiences to continue developing in the future.
According to the assessment of writer Jessa Braun on Opta's analysis page, no team will dare to "compete" with the Vietnamese team, because in their first World Cup participation, they had to be in the same group with the US team, the reigning champions, the number one team on the FIFA rankings.
However, Braun emphasized: "The team ranked 32nd in the world will not easily accept defeat. The Vietnamese girls entered the tournament with an indomitable spirit and excitement after winning the SEA Games gold medal for the fourth consecutive time. The 2-0 victory over Myanmar is enough to prove that the Vietnamese women's team deserves a place in the World Cup."
Evaluating the "Golden Star Warriors", Braun gave his opinion: "Coach Mai Duc Chung hopes that his students will bring the best performance at the 2023 World Cup. Just one goal will be a historical mark. We can expect a goal from Huynh Nhu, the number one striker in the history of Vietnamese women's football. She has won 5 Vietnamese Golden Balls, including consecutive victories in the past 4 years.
Coach Mai Duc Chung can also expect a breakthrough from midfielder Bich Thuy. The HCMC FC player scored the decisive goal in the match against Taiwan (China) at the Asian Cup (Asian women's football championship, also a 2023 World Cup qualifier), thereby helping Vietnam win tickets to New Zealand and Australia.
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung is famous for her great performances that few players can perform. Notably, she scored two goals from corner kicks in the match against Malaysia in 2015, one with her left foot and one with her right foot.
In addition, striker Pham Hai Yen has been a mainstay in the attack of the Vietnamese women's team since 2011 and has increased the penetration of the striker positions. On the defensive front, defender Chuong Thi Kieu is experienced and acts like a senior to bring peace of mind to her teammates."
The polarization of Group E is quite clear. The US is the defending champion, the Netherlands is the defending runner-up, while both Portugal and Vietnam are newcomers. In the current FIFA rankings, the US is number one, the Netherlands is number 9, Portugal is 21 and Vietnam is 32. Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine that the rematch of the 2019 World Cup final between the US and the Netherlands will determine the first and second place in Group E.
Looking deeper, compared to four years ago, the positions of both the US and the Netherlands have somewhat declined. As mentioned, the US is still the strongest women's team on the planet, but no longer holds a dominant position. The rise of European football is making the balance of the game more balanced.
Meanwhile, the US team is in a transition period. Legend Megan Rapinoe is 38 years old this year and has confirmed that the 2023 World Cup will be her last major tournament. Rapinoe has been directly involved in the most goals in the last 3 World Cups, with 9 goals and 6 assists in 17 matches.
In the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) this season, Rapinoe has maintained a fairly stable performance, ranking fourth in the assist list, equal to teammate Alex Morgan.
Last season, Morgan was the NWSL's top scorer with 15 goals. At the 2019 World Cup, Alex Morgan shared the Golden Boot with Rapinoe and England forward Ellen Whiten with six goals each.
In particular, Morgan scored 5 goals against the Thai women's team in the group stage, equaling the record of scoring in a match set by senior Michelle Akers in 1991.
Like Rapinoe, Morgan is getting older (34 years old) and the main stage is gradually being ceded to younger players.
Most notably, Rose Lavelle, the author of a masterpiece against the Netherlands in the 2019 World Cup final, dribbled the ball from midfield and then finished diagonally from the edge of the penalty area.
Four years ago, 24-year-old Lavelle was considered a big discovery of the tournament. Now, she is entering the prime of her career and leading other emerging talents in American soccer. Including Sophia Smith, 22, the player voted the best player of the NWSL and American soccer in 2022; Trinity Rodman, 21, the pillar of the Washington Spirit in the journey to conquer the 2021 NWSL championship.
Alyssa Thompson is also a notable name. This 18-year-old striker promises to become the second youngest player to represent the US women's team at the World Cup, after Tiffany Roberts (18 years and 32 days) at the 1995 tournament.
In defense, Crystal Dunn has always been a formidable weapon on the left flank, having returned strongly for the Portland Thorns after giving birth. Dunn is considered the most mobile player on the US team. Not only does she attack and defend rhythmically, but she also has the ability to lead her teammates and play in midfield.
However, the big loss for the US team is the absence of captain Becky Sauerbrunn, key winger Mallory Pugh and striker Catarina Maracio due to injury.
Since last year, coach Vlatko Andonovski has made no secret of his intention to build a style of play around Catarina Maracio, the striker who just moved from Lyon to Chelsea after finishing last season with 13 goals in the French national championship (Division 1 Féminine).
This plan is considered bankrupt, but with the quality and depth of the US team, Andonovski has enough resources to build other options.
Portuguese women's football is not as strong as men's football. On the contrary, the Portuguese women's team has always been considered one of the weakest teams in Europe. It was only in the early 2010s that the country really took women's sports seriously. Notably, the support came from superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Since Francisco Neto was appointed head coach in 2014, A Selecao das Quinas (the nickname of the Portuguese women's team) has started to reap some success.
Euro 2017 was the first major tournament the team participated in. Despite finishing bottom of the group, the Portuguese women's team had an impressive performance with a victory over Scotland and only a narrow defeat to England. The 2023 World Cup will also be the first time the Portuguese women's team will participate in the biggest football festival on the planet, after a thorny journey.
Initially, coach Neto and his team did not qualify for Euro 2022, the tournament that determines the World Cup in Europe. However, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine resulted in the Russian women's team being banned from the tournament, so Portugal was chosen as a replacement.
A Selecao das Quinas still finished bottom of a group containing Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland. However, with a point from the draw with Switzerland, Portugal secured a place in the intercontinental play-off for a World Cup ticket.
In the encounter with Cameroon, A Selecao das Quinas led 1-0 until the 89th minute when they were equalized. However, in the extra time, Portugal was awarded a penalty and Carole Costa did not miss the opportunity to score to send the home team to New Zealand to participate in the biggest football festival on the planet.
The most notable name in the Portuguese women's team is Jessica Silva. This player has more than 100 caps for the national team, and has played for Kansas City Current and Lyon, top clubs in the US and Europe. Jessica Silva is a striker who is good at dribbling and has a high scoring efficiency. She currently plays for Benfica and has scored 17 goals in 17 matches this season.
Another name worth noting is Jessica Silva's Benfica teammate, Francisca 'Kika' Nazareth, the youngest player ever to represent Portugal.
The attacking midfielder joined Benfica at the age of 16 and has since helped the club win six domestic titles. This season, she has scored 26 goals in 36 games in all competitions at club level.
On the Netherlands side, the biggest loss for the current world runner-up is the absence of top star Vivianne Miedema, a striker currently playing for Arsenal. She was the "Orange Storm"'s top scorer at the 2019 World Cup (3 goals) and the 2023 World Cup qualifiers (8 goals).
In the absence of Miedema, Lineth Beerensteyn has become the main striker of the Dutch women's team. In the last 4 matches of Oranje, Beerensteyn has contributed 4 goals. Supporting her is Lieke Martens, an experienced striker who tends to operate widely and is not lacking in acumen in front of the goal. In the last 5 matches of the Netherlands, this striker who plays for Paris Saint Germain has scored 3 goals.
Another name worth noting is Sherida Spitse. She is one of the few players in Europe to have more than 200 caps for her country. The midfielder was the top passer at the 2019 World Cup, with a total of 14 assists, including four assists for teammates.
Spitse is the Netherlands' free-kick specialist, her assists from set pieces are at least twice as many as any other player at this tournament.
All assessments are ultimately biased and personal. The Vietnamese women's team is in a very difficult group to expect a miracle from. Many opinions also say that Mai Duc Chung and his team should not be praised too much, because in reality the level gap between the women's teams is too great.
However, to ensure fairness, here is an assessment from Jeff Rueter, a writer for The Athletic (UK), the most prestigious sports website in the world today:
"While many teams participating in this tournament for the first time have players playing for foreign clubs, Vietnam has won the ticket to participate with a squad mainly consisting of players playing for their home country. The Vietnamese women's team won the ticket by reaching the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup, after defeating Thailand and Chinese Taipei.
Don't expect Vietnam to be the next victim of a double-digit defeat by the US, though. Vietnam played Germany in June and lost 2-1, despite Germany being the favourites for the World Cup and having the home advantage. Portugal are the more experienced team, having played at the Euros twice. Both newcomers are ready to take on any challenge!"
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