HANOI (30 March 2018) – Vietnam are looking to be one of five teams to make the cut for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019 when they open their campaign in the AFC Women’s World Cup in Jordan next week.
The AFC Women’s World Cup will be held on 6-20 April 2018.
“I do hope our team will qualify,” Mai Duc Chung, head coach of Vietnam, told FIFA.com. “We enter the qualifying competition motivated, and we hope we can go further.”
However a third-place finish in the group means an opportunity to feature in the play-off against the third-place finishers of the other group.
Despite the difficulties facing them, Vietnam can taking heart from their recent achievements as the coach pointed out.
“We have focused on youth development for years and the efforts have begun to bear fruit. We have performed well and gained good results (in the regional competitions) over recent years,” he went on, citing their title-winning campaign in last year’s Southeast Asian Games. “We will try our utmost to build on those achievements.”
“My strategy (for the Women’s Asian Cup) is to play a fluid passing game,” he revealed. “We will try to keep our rivals at bay through solid defence. We will connect well and try to keep possession of ball. Our chances may lie in our swift counter-attack.”
Vietnam will look to their promising star Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung as they aim to spring a surprise heading to Jordan. The 24-year-old midfielder has to be the team’s hottest prospect thanks to her goal-scoring form.
Her talents couldn’t be better demonstrated than in a match against Malaysia at the AFF Women’s Championship Vietnam 2015 when she completed a hat-trick in a 7-0 victory.
Even more impressive was that she twice scored directly from corners, one from either foot.
“Our aims are straightforward – to progress to the last four,” the midfielder told FIFA.com. “The chances are equal to each team and we can make it if we show our best.”
The previous edition saw Vietnam pitted against Thailand in the fifth place play-off. However, there was to be heartbreak for Vietnam in front of their own fans as Thailand won 2-1 and qualified for Canada 2015.
Four years on, though, Nguyen is confident that they can seek revenge should the two sides meet again in the all-important play-off.
“I scored the match-winning goal against Thailand in the Asian Games Korea Republic 2014 quarter-finals. So I believe we can absolutely make this happen again this time.”
Only the top five teams will make the cut for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup groups
Group A: Jordan, China PR, Thailand, Philippines
Group B: Japan, Australia, Korea Republic, Vietnam
