Highlights
The Vietnamese women's volleyball team will participate in the 2025 World Championship without the participation of key hitter Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen. However, coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet still showed his strategic talent with reasonable adjustment options.
In the opening match, despite a 1-3 defeat to Poland, the Vietnam women's team still had bright spots. First was Vi Thi Nhu Quynh's impressive debut with her participation in the main squad.
When captain Thanh Thuy retreated to the back row, the main striker born in 2002 played the role of the spearhead attacker. She continuously moved to the two edges, coordinated well with setter Lam Oanh and then jumped high to hit the ball.
Throughout his time on the field, Nhu Quynh showed intelligence, skill in handling the ball and good tactical vision. In particular, the 23-year-old player brought efficiency in situations of pressing the ball with strong force and pushing the ball into the opponent's empty corner.
Notably, in many situations, Poland arranged a 2-3-man block, but Nhu Quynh could still hit the ball in a back-and-forth to score for the home team. Against the world's third-placed opponent, Nhu Quynh was Vietnam's top scorer with 20 points, an efficiency of 40%.
In the second match against the German women's team, Tran Thi Thanh Thuy was the name that made her mark. The female striker born in 1997 scored 17 points - the highest in the match and surpassed all the stars on the opponent's side.
Despite entering the tournament with a lot of pressure and great expectations from fans, Thanh Thuy remained calm and proved her ability through each match. In particular, against the German women's team, she scored points from powerful smashes, sometimes small shots or bringing the ball to the A- angle very intelligently, showing good vision.
The first step of the Vietnam women's team is also gradually improving. Against strong opponents, coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet's students were more cautious and had many impressive saves, creating momentum for the attack to score.
Many lessons
In addition to the bright spots, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team also has many valuable lessons when facing Poland or Germany. The playing style of the Vietnamese women's team needs to be more diverse, especially when opponents only need 3-4 moves to get a card.
Compared to Poland and Germany, Vietnam's height and physical condition are at a disadvantage. Therefore, it is difficult to play as a striker or hit the ball continuously because their blocking line works very effectively. In addition, the shots behind the 3m line were not strong enough to make it difficult for the opponent.
The most likely option for Vietnam is to hit quickly on the net, with one foot behind the head, drop a ball or observe to avoid it. In fact, Bich Thuy, Nhu Quynh, Thanh Thuy, Kieu Trinh are all doing this job well. The Vietnamese women's team needs to promote such moves, while making flexible changes to bring efficiency.
The most important thing is still the fighting spirit of the players. Failure is inevitable when facing the world's top teams, but Thanh Thuy and her teammates always try to overcome difficulties.
This spirit needs to be maintained in the final match against Kenya, a fairly suitable opponent. Therefore, this is also the only opportunity that the Vietnamese women's team can take advantage of to close the world championship with a victory.
