Vietnam women's team and the victory that brings confidence

The bronze medal at the Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship (AFF Cup 2025) after winning against Thailand yesterday afternoon (August 19) is a reward for the Vietnamese women's team's efforts to the end.

NEVER GIVE UP

After the unfortunate 1-2 loss to Australia, coach Mai Duc Chung affirmed that the Vietnamese women's team will not give up, but will focus all their efforts to beat Thailand in the third-place match to respond to the love of the fans.

Hai Yen scored the opening goal to help the Vietnamese women's team beat Thailand 3-1.

PHOTO: MINH TU

In the final match of the AFF Cup 2025 last night, the Australian women's team avenged their loss to Myanmar in the group stage when they won 1-0 to take the championship.

The Vietnamese women's team kept their promise when they entered the field in the rematch with Thailand with a strong squad and the highest spirit. Learning from the defeat in the semi-finals due to a slow start, Bich Thuy and her teammates tried to compete and control the tempo from the first minute. The players calmly passed the ball to escape Thailand's pressing, then launched attacks with quick and precise passes.

Huynh Nhu exploded

Bich Thuy tries her best

However, facing Thailand's determination to defend, Coach Mai Duc Chung's students encountered many difficulties in approaching the goal. Despite controlling the ball better, the Vietnamese women's team did not create an overwhelming number of opportunities (each team had 6 shots). Especially in multi-touch coordination phases, Huynh Nhu, Thai Thi Thao or Hai Yen often made mistakes in passing at the decisive moment, causing the opportunity to pass regrettably.

However, the Vietnamese women's team still penetrated the Thai net thanks to their familiar tactic: lightning-fast attacks. Bich Thuy's long pass tore through the visitors' defense, opening up space for Hai Yen to score a cross-angle goal, a standard tactic, demonstrating the women's team's direct philosophy. Unfortunately, in the match against Australia, instead of trusting a pure striker like Hai Yen, coach Mai Duc Chung gave the starting position to winger Thanh Nha, which limited the attacking opportunities of the Vietnamese women's team. As soon as she returned, Hai Yen affirmed her value as a typical center forward: smart running, neat handling and, most importantly, effective.

"PARTY" IN LACHTRAY

Hai Yen’s goal helped the Vietnamese women’s team feel more relaxed after the break. Against the young Thai squad, experience helped coach Mai Duc Chung’s students dominate the game and regulate their playing mentality appropriately.

The smooth, steady ball rotations of the Vietnamese women's team through the lines gave Thailand no chance to defend, especially when the away team's physical strength declined in the second half.

Taking advantage of Thailand's high formation, Huynh Nhu launched a punishing strike with a goal in the 65th minute with a rebound into an empty net (the 34-year-old striker's first shot was blocked). This was also Huynh Nhu's first goal in the AFF Cup 2025, helping the striker from Vinh Long relieve the pressure that had been on him throughout the tournament. 3 minutes later, thanks to a tricky cross-line pass that eliminated a Thai defender (this time the passer was Nguyen Thi Van), Bich Thuy closed the door of hope for the away team with a classy one-touch diagonal shot to score the third goal. Thailand's efforts were only exchanged for a consolation goal from Wirunya Kwenkasikum, ending the match with a score of 3-1 for the Vietnamese women.

Defeating Thailand, the Vietnamese women's team won the bronze medal at the AFF Cup 2025. This is a reward for the unyielding will of coach Mai Duc Chung's students.

After the AFF Cup 2025, the female players will return to their clubs to play in the national championship. In November, the Vietnamese women's team will gather again to prepare for the 33rd SEA Games. Mr. Chung's students will have about 2-3 weeks of training to hone their tactics, preparing for the journey to defend their title in Thailand.

The "diamond girls" are not only aiming for the SEA Games, but also the Asian Cup, ASIAD, or even the World Cup. To surpass that threshold, the only way is to transfer forces and renew the playing style.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-va-chien-thang-mang-lai-niem-tin-185250819234153075.htm