Vietnam Women's Football - Talent and dedication of teachers and students

It was a miraculous "exception" of the Vietnamese golden girls when they won 8 SEA Games football gold medals, including 4 consecutive times from the 29th, 30th, 31st and 32nd SEA Games.

Huynh Nhu golden player of Vietnamese women's football.

That was the golden age of Vietnamese women's football associated with names like Kim Chi, Kim Hong, Minh Nguyet... then and now Huynh Nhu, Tuyet Dung, Chuong Thi Kieu, Thai Thi Thao, Nguyen Bich Thuy... and a special character that cannot be ignored is coach Mai Duc Chung. The question is why did Vietnamese women's football achieve such "unrivaled" achievements in the region, far surpassing the achievements of men's football as we know?

The answer starts from a remarkable fact that Vietnam's national women's football tournaments are organized regularly, consistently, and with quality. Not only the National Women's Football Championship, but tournaments of all ages are also maintained well, contributing to supplementing the strength of clubs and the national team. In particular, the two women's football training centers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the main sources of human resources for the national team to win the SEA Games as well as recently winning tickets to the upcoming 2023 Women's World Cup.

In the difficult context of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the opportunity to expand the Women's World Cup opened up, Vietnamese women's football quickly grasped it, focused its efforts, and was highly determined to achieve satisfactory results. That is a great achievement of Vietnamese women's football in the history of Vietnamese football development, alongside futsal on the world football map.

At the same time, the Philippine women's football team was massively naturalized and got a ticket to the World Cup but failed miserably at the recent 32nd SEA Games, despite beating Vietnam in the group stage. The Thai women's football team is in a period of rejuvenation after failing in the campaign to find a ticket to the World Cup, and also failing at the 32nd SEA Games. That general context further demonstrates the talent of Mr. Mai Duc Chung in building the force, harmoniously combining veterans and young elements, creating a stable competitive mentality, a thirst for victory, in addition to upgrading and raising the level of stars like Huynh Nhu when playing abroad.

At the 32nd SEA Games, the Vietnamese women's football team only encountered difficulties when facing the Philippines team, a team with mostly good-sized, physically fit players, mostly playing in Europe. The absence of Chuong Thi Kieu caused our defense to have difficulties and conceded a goal against a high ball from a free kick at the end of the match. However, Mr. Mai Duc Chung commented that it was an easy problem with a solution, and there was nothing to worry about if the women's team encountered a similar situation again, even if they had not added any more players or if Chuong Thi Kieu returned from injury.

In fact, in this tournament, the Philippine women's team did not play well and were eliminated after the group stage because of poor sub-indexes. The Thais also did not play well, especially in the semi-final against Myanmar, while we had won against Myanmar in the group stage (3-1) and met again in the final (2-0). It was still Huynh Nhu's luck in both matches and Tuyet Dung's talent in the role of a classy playmaker. It was still the very intentional high balls passed behind the opponent's defense for Huynh Nhu to break the offside trap, handle neatly and finish dangerously. It was the tightness and the more solid the defense played, with names like Thu Thao, Hai Linh, Diem My, the midfield with Thai Thi Thao returning after a SEA Games absence due to injury, Bich Thuy, Duong Thi Van...

The strong reserve force is the basis for Mr. Mai Duc Chung to adjust when facing difficulties such as when the Philippines led in the group stage, such as when needing to consolidate victory, extinguishing all efforts of the opponent. That is when Hoang Thi Loan or Thanh Nha enters the field not only to give Thai Thi Thao or Bich Thuy a rest but also to strengthen the strength in the middle of the field and on the wings, to increase the attack power that their masterpieces have proven the talent of both teacher and student not only in one match, one tournament.

Winning consecutive convincing victories at the SEA Games is the basis for the Vietnamese women's football team to confidently and steadily advance to the upcoming Women's World Cup 2023 Finals. The team will continue to strengthen its forces, including factors from U20 as Mr. Mai Duc Chung said. The World Cup playground will be extremely difficult and challenging, but it will be necessary and long-term harvests for the growth and development of Vietnamese women's football. Let's hope and wait for the next achievements of the golden girls of Vietnamese women's football, the more difficult it is, the more it proves the perseverance, the more it proves the "steel" from the will and determination of the descendants of Ba Trung and Ba Trieu today in all circumstances and opponents...