Center back Chuong Thi Kieu: Vietnam women's team will defend firmly against Portugal

Today, July 24 (Vietnam time), the Vietnamese women's team continued to practice to prepare for the match against the Portuguese women's team on July 27.

In the opening match of the 2023 World Cup against the US women's team, coach Mai Duc Chung could not use his strongest lineup. Thanh Nha had health problems, Chuong Thi Kieu, Duong Thi Van and Hai Yen came on from the bench because they had not fully recovered from injuries.

Sharing about the previous match, center back Chuong Thi Kieu said: “I have not fully recovered from my injury but I am very confident to enter the match. In the match against the US, when the coach put me on the field, I was initially quite shy with the ball.

But the next time I tackled the ball, I was able to improve. Not playing for more than a year meant that my ball sense was not 100%. After that match, coach Mai Duc Chung also held a team meeting and reminded the players about the situations of losing the ball. He asked the players to hold the ball more firmly to coordinate with each other."

After watching the match between Portugal and the Netherlands yesterday, Chuong Thi Kieu assessed that the Portuguese women's team is a very strong team, playing fiercely. "Against this opponent, the whole team needs to try to play better defense. Only then can the attackers feel secure to deploy the ball and find scoring opportunities. Portugal is also a rookie, but having reached the final round of the women's world football, all teams are very strong, regardless of whether they are new or old. The most important thing is that we need to be confident and determined to compete," said Chuong Thi Kieu.

The upcoming match against Portugal will be played in the evening, when the temperature in New Zealand will drop. However, the center back of the Vietnamese women's team affirmed that this is not too important because the team has had a few weeks to get used to the weather before. Currently, the players are focusing on improving their physical condition, preparing for the next match.

Finally, she commented on the first matches of the 2023 Women's World Cup: "In previous years, when the number of teams was small, the first matches had a lot of goals scored, and the scores were also quite different. But in the first round of matches this year, the number of goals scored was not much. I think this proves that the teams have developed," said Chuong Thi Kieu.

The Vietnamese women's team will continue to practice at Fred Taylor Park (Auckland) today and tomorrow, before moving to Hamilton on the morning of July 26. Here, the Vietnamese women's team will have an official practice session at Porritt Stadium on the afternoon of July 26.