Calculations of the Vietnamese women's team
Coach Mai Duc Chung's women's team started favorablely with a 2-1 victory over India. This result helps Huynh Nhu and her teammates have a wide door in competing for second place in Group C or the 3rd team with the best results, thereby winning a ticket to the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women's Asian Cup.
Objectively, the situation of Group A is also supporting the Vietnamese women's team. After 2 matches, South Korea and Australia soon get 6 points and are sure to advance. The Philippines and Iran women's teams will have to compete for 3rd place in the final match. Regardless of the result of this match, the 3rd place team of Group A will only win a maximum of 3 points. This helps the 3rd place teams of Groups B and C only need to have 4 points or more to be sure to advance.
Right in Group C, if in the 2nd match, India loses to Japan and Vietnam draws with Taiwan (China), coach Mai Duc Chung's team will get 4 points. This number meets the conditions for the Vietnamese women's team to participate in the quarter-finals. The issue is only whether the national women's team will advance with which ranking in Group C. Meanwhile, if they defeat Taiwan (China), Vietnam will definitely finish the group stage with 1 of the top 2 positions in the group, thereby advancing to the knockout round without worrying about other results. Conversely, if they lose to this opponent, Vietnam is forced to wait for the scores of other matches in the final round to determine the overall ranking. At that time, the risk of being unexpectedly eliminated is entirely possible. It should be added that, in case of leading Group C or standing in 3rd place, the Vietnamese women's team will be in a more favorable bracket with suitable opponents in the quarter-finals, having the opportunity to advance to the semi-finals and win a ticket to the world tournament.
However, if ranked second in Group C, Huynh Nhu and her teammates will fall into a more difficult bracket when both the quarter-finals and the relegation rounds must face the top strong teams in the continent such as: China, North Korea, South Korea or Australia. At that time, the World Cup participation rate with Vietnam will be somewhat affected. The team only has one other way left, which is to win a ticket through the intercontinental play-off in another country.
Focus step by step
Sharing before the match between Vietnam and Taiwan (China), the veteran coach emphasized that each match of the home team is no different from a final.
Students need to focus on winning against all opponents, instead of calculating too much about objective factors.
In the opening match, in fact, Taiwan (China) played quite stably against Japan.
For their part, the Vietnamese women's team will face some disadvantages in terms of weather factors. Instead of playing in the evening, Huynh Nhu and her teammates have to play at 12 pm. The weather in Perth (Australia) at this time can be up to 38 degrees Celsius.
Doctor Luong Thi Hien - a member of the medical team - said: "The weather is quite hot, causing a lot of impact on the training sessions as well as the competition of the players. The medical team has prepared electrolyte water for the players before, during and after training to replenish minerals.
The match between the Vietnam Women's Team and the Taiwan (China) Women's Team takes place at 12:00 PM on March 7.
