The defeat to Taiwan (China) makes the door to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2026 Asian Cup for the Vietnamese women's team even narrower because coach Mai Duc Chung's team cannot take the initiative.
In addition, facing the leading Asian women's team, the Japanese women's team, in the last group stage match makes it even more difficult and stressful for the Vietnamese women's team.
The group stage of the 2026 Asian Cup has identified 6/8 names to enter the quarter-finals, which are Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea, Australia and Uzbekistan, the remaining 2 slots belong to the second-placed team in Group C and 1 third-placed team with the best results, in which the Vietnamese women's team is in both of these cases.
Just by defeating the Japanese women's team, the Vietnamese women's team will win second place in Group C and win a ticket to continue. In case of a draw with the Japanese women's team, if the Indian women's team defeats Taiwan (China), coach Mai Duc Chung's team will also have second place in the group.
The most unbelievable scenario could also happen to the Vietnamese women's team, which is that we have to draw lots and wait for luck to be able to advance. That is when the Vietnamese women's team lost to the Japanese women's team 0-2, did not receive any more cards and in the match at the same time, the Indian women's team won against Taiwan (China) with a score of 1-0.
The achievement after 3 group stage matches of the Vietnamese women's team at that time would be 3rd place in Group C, scoring 2 goals, conceding 4 goals and receiving 2 yellow cards. This statistic is completely equal to the Philippines, the 3rd team in Group A.
Because Uzbekistan is already the first team ranked 3rd to have a ticket to continue, the remaining ticket for this position will be determined by the lucky draw between the Vietnamese women's team and the Philippines women's team. The luckier team will be the last name to win a ticket to continue.
