Asian Games 17 Women's Football Semi-Finals: Continuing the Miracle?
(Baonghean) - This afternoon (September 29), the Vietnamese women's football team will enter the semi-final match against a very strong opponent, the Japanese women's team. Although it is difficult to create a surprise, although they may lose heavily, but with the feat of reaching the semi-finals of women's football for the first time at an Asian Games, the female players still make us feel proud...
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| The joy of victory of Vietnamese female players. Photo: bongda.com.vn |
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After this tournament, the Vietnamese women's football team has undergone many changes. First of all, on the coaching bench, Chinese coach Tran Van Phat has left, giving way to a familiar face, coach Mai Duc Chung - who led the Vietnamese women's team to win the SEA Games gold medal in 2003 and 2005. Along with that, veterans such as Kim Hong, Le Thi Thuong... also left the team, replaced by young faces such as Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung, Vu Thi Thuy, Nguyen Thi Ngoc, Nguyen Thi Dang... But the VFF's attention to the women's team is the same as before: There are no more long training trips, the regimes are also cut. Even the team's competition uniforms are not issued new but must use the uniforms from 2010.
However, despite such “indifference”, the women’s football team had an unexpectedly successful ASIAD. In the group stage, the Vietnamese women’s team was in Group C with North Korea and Hong Kong (China). In the opening match, they lost heavily to North Korea with a score of 0-5. This was not surprising, because North Korea has long been one of the four strongest teams in Asia. In the remaining match of the group stage, under pressure to win to reach the quarter-finals, the Vietnamese women’s team crushed Hong Kong (China) 5-0, taking second place in Group C.
In the quarter-finals, the Vietnamese women's team met their fateful opponent, Thailand, with the majority of players having won against our team to secure a ticket to the World Cup finals 4 months earlier. Considered to be the better team, the other team dominated the majority of the first half. However, the Vietnamese girls calmly applied a very reasonable defensive counter-attacking style of play. Even when conceding the first goal at the beginning of the second half, the red-shirted women were still not shaken. Nguyen Thi Lieu's long-range shot to equalize, although quite lucky, still proved that the team's strikers still maintained their alertness and alertness in front of the opponent's goal. In the following minutes, with excitement and determination to "pay back the debt", the Vietnamese women's team controlled the game with strong attacks on both wings. In the 67th minute, Tuyet Dung's accurate shot sealed a 2-1 victory for the home team. Before that, in the 65th minute, Tuyet Dung failed to execute a penalty kick, after the opposing defender fouled Nguyen Thi Nguyet in the penalty area. Thailand did not have any dangerous opportunities after that, because the Vietnamese women's team's defense played tightly, completely neutralizing the opponent's attacks. The 2-1 victory was both a sweet revenge and a miracle for Vietnamese women's football: reaching the semi-finals of an Asian Games for the first time.
The opponent of the Vietnamese women's team in the semi-finals is the Japanese women's team, the current world champion and the current Asian Games champion. Therefore, it is difficult for coach Mai Duc Chung's students to create a surprise. This coach himself, after watching the match between Japan and China in the group stage, admitted that the difference in class between his team and the reigning world champion is very large. However, the captain of the Vietnamese women's team also affirmed that his students are ready to test themselves against that towering mountain. With a relaxed spirit, it is likely that the Vietnamese women's team will dedicate a beautiful match to the fans.
Mai Anh
