During training in China, the Vietnam U20 women's team had their first friendly match with Beijing Women's Club to check the force and improve expertise before the continental tournament.
Against an opponent with advantages in physique and fitness, the Vietnam U20 women's players entered the game proactively, organized a tight playing style and made efforts to deploy attacking plans. However, in the first half, the home team representative took good advantage of an opportunity to score the opening goal, thereby taking a 1-0 lead.
Stepping into the second half, the Vietnam U20 women's team pushed up the squad to find an equalizer. Despite creating some notable situations, coach Okiyama Masahiko's students still could not penetrate the defense of Beijing Women's Club. The match closed with a score of 1-0 in favor of the home team representative.
Assessing the performance of his students, coach Okiyama Masahiko said that the whole team showed a positive fighting spirit and made progress in their playing style.
He said: "In the early stages of the match, the team conceded goals but then quickly got used to the pace of the match and made clear progress right during the match. Counter-attacks were deployed, there were a few clear chances but they were not utilized into goals.
In general, the team has shown good fighting spirit and implemented tactical intentions quite well. The whole team is implementing the correct playing style set by the coaching staff”.
Commenting on the opponent, the Japanese coach assessed Beijing Women's Club as a team with fast speed, good technique and impressive physique.
According to the plan, the Vietnam U20 women's team will continue to play two more friendly matches in this training camp to improve their expertise. Specifically, on March 12, the team will meet a Korean women's club and on March 14, they will play against another Chinese women's club.
After completing the training camp, on March 15, the whole team will return to Vietnam and move the gathering point to Ho Chi Minh City to enter the final preparation stage before participating in the tournament. In about two weeks of sprint training, it is expected that the Vietnam U20 women's team will have two more quality friendly matches with U20 women's Uzbekistan on March 24 and March 27.
According to the plan, on March 29, the Vietnam U20 women's team will depart for Bangkok (Thailand) to participate in the 2026 AFC U20 Women's Championship finals. At this tournament, Vietnam U20 women's team is in Group A with China U20 women's team, host Thailand and Bangladesh.
