Coach Mai Duc Chung: 'When the Vietnamese National Anthem plays, my emotions surge'

The Vietnamese women's team had a historic match at the 2023 Women's World Cup. Even though they lost 0-3 to the US Women's Team, coach Mai Duc Chung's students still have the right to be proud of their performance in the opening match.

After the match, coach Mai Duc Chung said he was very pleased that his players followed the tactics and maintained their fighting spirit until the last minute. He emphasized that the Vietnamese women's team kept their promise before the match.

Coach Mai Duc Chung said: “I am very satisfied with the team’s fighting spirit and compliance with tactics. Our level is lower than theirs and we have many technical limitations, but we are clearly not inferior in spirit. We kept our promise before the match, we may have lost in technical terms but our fighting spirit is always good.”

Besides, this veteran coach said that he was very emotional and happy when singing the National Anthem at Eden Park. He added: “My emotions were overflowing. I have never felt like that. The whole world listened to our National Anthem and I was able to stand and salute the flag, singing the National Anthem of our country Vietnam. It was such an honor and pride.”

Finally, coach Mai Duc Chung praised goalkeeper Kim Thanh. In addition to blocking Morgan's penalty kick, Kim Thanh also saved 3 other times for the Vietnamese women's team: "I praise the defense. Kim Thanh and the defenders limited the opponent's attacks. Kim Thanh made many excellent saves. The defenders also played very hard. The players fulfilled the requirements set by the coaching staff. We covered each other, pressed close and left the opponent with little space to exploit.

This is the last stop for the Vietnamese women's team. I have great confidence in Kim Thanh. Before that, we also watched the video and carefully studied the US women's team's penalty kicks. Most of the time, they will kick to the right side, so we have studied to prevent it. Of course, some situations outside the 16m50 box were not handled well by the players"./.