At noon on June 28, the press conference before Group E of the 2026 Asian Cup Women's qualifiers took place with the participation of 4 head coaches from Vietnam, UAE, Maldives and Guam. The opening match between the Vietnam women's team received great attention. Although highly appreciated, coach Mai Duc Chung still showed caution in the face of the South Asian representative.
"The Vietnamese women's team aims to top Group E of the qualifying round. We will show great determination right from the opening match against Maldives. For the Vietnam, UAE, Maldives and Guam women's teams, they are all opponents that we value. They have all made remarkable progress. Looking forward to this qualifying round, all 3 teams have played friendly matches. The Vietnamese women's team needs to be cautious and make a lot of effort," coach Mai Duc Chung shared.
Regarding the team's careful preparation, Mr. Chung said: "Towards the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers, we have had a training trip in Japan. That is a good environment for the women's team to develop. When training in Vietnam, it will be difficult for us to have such a quality green army. Normally, the Vietnam women's team will have to play friendly matches with the men's teams. Therefore, being trained in an environment like Japan is very good for our development".
Regarding the force, the Vietnam women's team has the addition of some young players such as Minh Chuyen, Nguyen Thi Hoa and Thu Em. Coach Mai Duc Chung also shared the reason for removing overseas Vietnamese player Nam Mi from the final list because she did not meet professional requirements.
On the other side of the front line, Maldives coach vera Paun admitted that meeting Vietnam in the opening match was a huge challenge: "Meeting the Vietnam women's team in the opening match was a difficulty. This will be the biggest challenge for Maldives in the qualifiers. We will try to prepare as much as possible. Hopefully the players will have the best performance".
The match between Vietnam and Maldives in the opening match of Group E of the 2026 Asian Cup Women's qualifiers will take place at 19:00 tomorrow (June 29) at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho province).
