3 stars of Vietnam women's team sign 'huge' contracts; Cong Phuong's teammate unexpectedly joins Japan team for 2026 World Cup qualifiers

3 stars of Vietnam women's team sign "huge" contracts

Vietnam Women's Golden Ball 2023 - goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh and 2 teammates Bich Thuy and Tran Thi Thu officially joined Thai Nguyen T&T women's football club.

Three "blockbuster" contracts of Vietnamese women's football were signed and introduced by Thai Nguyen T&T club in Thai Nguyen on the afternoon of March 14. The tea-land team simultaneously signed 2-year contracts with goalkeepers Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Bich Thuy and Tran Thi Thu, after these 3 national players' contracts with Ho Chi Minh City women's club expired at the end of 2023.

Notably, 2/3 of Thai Nguyen T&T's new recruits are the brightest faces of Vietnamese women's football at the moment. Kim Thanh is the 2023 Vietnamese Women's Golden Ball, and Bich Thuy also owns the Bronze Ball award.

Without announcing the specific contract, Thai Nguyen T&T affirmed that the treatment given to Kim Thanh, Bich Thuy and Tran Thi Thu "is commensurate with the value, talent, reputation and contribution of the three Vietnamese female players". In addition, at the contract signing ceremony, the leaders of T&T Group awarded the Golden Ball for Women Kim Thanh 50 million VND, the Bronze Ball for Women Bich Thuy 20 million VND and the Best Young Female Player Minh Chuyen 10 million VND.

After recruiting a series of "blockbusters", Thai Nguyen T&T aims to change the map of Vietnamese women's football. The tea-land team wants to turn the championship race in the 2024 National Women's Football Championship into a three-horse race between Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Thai Nguyen T&T, instead of just a two-horse race between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Indonesian coach admits to having difficulty before match against Vietnam for special reason

Not long ago, coach Shin Tae-yong announced the list of players to gather for the Indonesian team in March 2024. Notably, in this list of players, there are 11 players born abroad.

According to Suara (Indonesia), the presence of naturalized players helps improve the team's strength. However, according to this newspaper, coach Shin Tae-yong is under pressure because he has too many naturalized stars.

“Having so many naturalized players puts pressure on me. But I will try to unite the team and win,” Suara quoted coach Shin Tae-yong as saying after meeting with Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) President Erick Thohir.

In recent years, Indonesia has been pursuing a policy of naturalizing players and this has helped them strengthen their national team.

However, a part of fans, media and experts are strongly condemning this policy.

They believe that too many naturalizations have made domestic players lose their place in the national team and that youth training is no longer given as much attention as before. Despite receiving such criticism, coach Shin Tae-yong seems to not care much and only focuses on the two matches against the Vietnamese team.

“I am serious about preparing for the Indonesian team. When I met some national team players in Europe, I spent time talking, having dinner and building motivation for them. Our goal is to win against the Vietnamese team,” Mr. Shin continued.

According to the schedule, on March 21, Indonesia will compete with the Vietnamese team at Bung Karno Stadium.

Which channel to watch the two matches between Vietnam and Indonesia live?

The Vietnamese team will continue their journey in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup with two matches against the Indonesian team in March. These two matches are very important in the competition for a ticket to the third qualifying round of Coach Philippe Troussier and his team.

After two matches, the Vietnamese team is currently ranked 2nd in Group F with 3 points (winning 2-0 against the Philippines and losing 0-1 against Iraq). Meanwhile, the Indonesian team has only 1 point, ranking last in Group F. This also means that if they win both matches against Indonesia, the Vietnamese team will almost certainly have a ticket to the next round.

However, this will not be an easy challenge for the "Golden Star Warriors" when Indonesia has added many naturalized players from Europe.

According to the schedule, the Vietnamese team will visit the Bung Karno Stadium of the Indonesian team in the third match on March 21. Five days later, Vietnam and Indonesia will meet again in the fourth match of Group F at My Dinh National Stadium.

FPT Play is the unit that owns the media copyright for the first and second leg matches between Vietnam and Indonesia.

In addition, fans can also watch 2 matches of the Vietnam Team on VTV5 channel.

Cong Phuong's teammate unexpectedly joins Japan national team for 2026 World Cup qualifiers

In the list of the Japanese team for the two matches against North Korea on March 21 and 26, Coach Moriyasu gave a chance to Koki Ogawa, a striker from Yokohama FC.

Koki Ogawa has been Cong Phuong's teammate since last season. In J-League 2023, Koki Ogawa played well with 6 goals. After the team was relegated, the 26-year-old striker was sent to NEC Nijmegen on loan for 1 season.

Despite moving to a harsher environment, the striker who once competed with Cong Phuong for a position has flourished more than before. At the Dutch club, he played 23 matches and scored 8 goals in the national championship.

Among the strikers called up for the two 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Koki Ogawa has the best scoring record for his home club (more than Kubo - 7 goals and Minamino - 6 goals).

Thanks to that, Koki Ogawa has been named in the national team list./.