Group C of the 2024-2025 AFC Champions League (also known as the Women's Asian Cup C1) will take place from October 6 to 12 at Thong Nhat Stadium (HCMC).
This group includes teams Ho Chi Minh City, Taichung Blue Whale (Taiwan, China), Odisha (India) and Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan).
Before the first round of matches, the coaches of the teams attended a press conference at noon on October 5 to share with the media.
In the opening match, the home team HCMC will face Taichung Blue Whale. At the press conference, the head coach of the team from Taiwan (China) said that Huynh Nhu is the most notable player of the HCMC women's club.
"I have learned about the HCMC women's club. They have a fast playing style and team spirit. I pay the most attention to Huynh Nhu. She is a good player, just returned from Europe.
When participating in the Women's World Cup with the Vietnamese team, Huynh Nhu also played well. This is the player who attracted my attention the most," said coach Lu Kuei-hua.
Besides Huynh Nhu, the HCMC women's club also has quality additions of 3 American foreign players including midfielder Tatiana Mason, center back Talani Barnet, and striker Root Medhan Callahan.
At the press conference, coach Nguyen Hong Pham of the HCMC women's team said that these 3 foreign players are integrating very well.
He said: "More than 1 month since joining the team, the 3 foreign players have so far integrated well in terms of biology, diet,... Foreign and domestic players are increasingly closer in life and training. In terms of playing style, the foreign players bring a new breeze to the training atmosphere."
Regarding the goal of the HCMC women's club in this tournament, Mr. Pham emphasized: "HCMC is the first Vietnamese women's team to participate in the AFC Women's Champions League. We have carefully prepared with 10 days of training in Korea.
This group is full of very strong teams. The club has prepared every plan for each match to get the best results in this tournament. Our goal is to try one match at a time and advance to the next round. If Ho Chi Minh City advances, we will try one match at a time to achieve the highest goal."
The match between Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club and Taichung Blue Whale will take place at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow (October 6).
Before that, at 15:00 will be the match between Odisha and Urawa Red Diamonds.
In the 2024 - 2025 AFC Champions League Women's group stage, there are 12 participating teams divided into 3 groups (4 teams each), competing in a round robin to calculate ranking points.
The first and second-placed teams in each group, along with the two best third-placed teams in the group stage, will advance to the quarter-finals.
