Vietnam women's team reunites with reigning world champion Japan
Having defeated Thailand in the quarter-finals of the 17th Asian Games (Asian Games 2014 in Incheon, South Korea), the Vietnamese women's team will face a huge challenge in the semi-finals. That is the reigning world and ASIAD champion - the Japanese women's team.
Meeting Japan again at ASIAD, the Vietnamese women's team hopes to erase the haunting memory of failure. (Photo: Minh Chien/Vietnam+)
The 2-1 victory over Thailand in yesterday afternoon's match brought the Vietnamese women's team to the semi-finals of the ASIAD for the first time in history. This is a feat not only for Vietnamese women's football but also the highest achievement a Southeast Asian team has ever achieved in history.
But the semi-finals may be the final limit for the Vietnamese women's team because the next opponent is the reigning world champion Japan. Against the weak opponent Hong Kong, the Japanese women's team played a jubilant match and won 9-0. The fact that up to seven different players scored shows the uniformity in the level of the Japanese players. Japan itself is also the reigning world champion and ASIAD champion.
In the last meeting between the two teams at the Asian Championship in May, despite having home advantage, the Vietnamese women still had to accept a 0-4 defeat. Four months later, the Vietnamese women's team has made a lot of progress, typically passing the group stage of the ASIAD and defeating Thailand. But that is probably not enough to think about a surprise against Japan.The most realistic goal of Mai Duc Chung and his students against the powerful army from the Land of the Rising Sun is to avoid a heavy defeat. A defeat with a difference of less than four goals will show the progress of the Vietnamese women's team.
In the other two semi-finals, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and South Korea defeated China and Chinese Taipei, respectively, with the same score of 1-0. They will meet in an internal Korean peninsula match. Regardless of the result, the Korean peninsula will still have a representative in the Asian Games final.
The two semi-finals of the ASIAD women's football will take place the day after tomorrow (July 29).
QUARTER-FINALS of women's football at ASIAD 17
North Korea - China 1-0
Vietnam - Thailand 2-1
Korea - Taiwan 1-0
Japan - Hong Kong 9-0
Semifinal
Vietnam - Japan
South Korea - North Korea
