Comments before the match between Vietnam women and Japan (17:00 today): A beautiful farewell to coach Mai Duc Chung
Prediction before the match between Vietnam women and Japan: Facing the Japanese women is an extremely difficult challenge, but Huynh Nhu and her teammates will probably try their best to have a beautiful farewell with coach Mai Duc Chung, whom they love very much.
The gift from the Vietnam women's team to coach Mai Duc Chung
Having led the Vietnamese women's team for 12 years through 3 periods: 2003 to 2005, 2014 and 2016 to 2023, Coach Mai Duc Chung may also hope that his students will bring him a surprise in the match against Japan this afternoon.
Japan is a really tough challenge, and the chance of the Vietnamese women's team advancing is very slim, but perhaps the spirit of Huynh Nhu and her teammates will help them play the dedicated football that Mr. Chung "xe ca" expects.
The next generation of Vietnamese women’s football players that coach Mai Duc Chung has entrusted to develop in the near future, such as Hai Linh, Van Su, Thanh Nha, Tran Thi Duyen, etc., may also be given a chance to play against the Japanese team. The fact that they have played many high-level matches against world-class opponents like Japan also opens up opportunities for them to grow.
Japan just defeated Vietnam with 7 goals to nil in the group stage of ASIAD 19 and made the "Golden Star Warriors" get eliminated early after 2 successful ASIADs before. This time, they brought a better quality squad instead of a youth team like in China.
The current big stars of Japanese football such as Hinata Miyazawa, Kumaga, Endo, Minami, Shimizu, Tanaka Mina, Miyano were all called up. However, they only played very sparingly to save their energy for the upcoming decisive round.
One goal is a success
Japan won a resounding 7-0 victory over India and only narrowly beat the host Uzbekistan by 2 goals. The class of coach Futoshi Ikeda and his team has surpassed Asia. Coach Ikeda considered his opponents as his team and Japan played like they were taking a walk and could still take all 6 points and top Group C.
They even plan to only win lightly against host Uzbekistan in the second match. This could help Uzbekistan (if they beat India) to enter the top four of this qualifying round. At that time, Japan will avoid the top team of Group A (possibly Australia, the team that reached the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup) in the round of 4.
The Vietnamese women's team will cause a stir in world football if they can beat Japan. However, experts do not rate this possibility highly. And as mentioned, if Huynh Nhu and her teammates can play comfortably, play with the spirit of not giving up to give a beautiful match as a farewell to coach Mai Duc Chung, that will be a great success.
Even a goal against Japan in this match is a meaningful gift for the veteran coach who has accompanied them for many years.
