2025 Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship: Vietnam women's team advances straight to the semi-finals

Tuyển nữ Việt Nam - Ảnh 1. — Vietnam women's team celebrates their goal - Photo: NGOC LE

Experience and class are the difference that made the victory of the Vietnamese women's team, because the Thai women's players are too young (U23) and inexperienced.

Different class

Bringing a very young squad to Vietnam, coach Futoshi Ikeda did not make any changes to the starting lineup of the Thai women's team compared to the first two matches with all wins against Indonesia and Cambodia.

The Japanese coach still fielded 5/11 players aged only 17-19 to face the experienced players of the home team.

Despite the absence of the "sweeper" in the middle of the field, Duong Thi Van, due to injury, the Vietnamese women's team still proved to be too strong for Thailand. Hai Linh (24 years old), when playing in place of her senior, did not have to work too much in the middle circle as Thailand did not create much pressure.

Even coach Mai Duc Chung's caution, bringing in experienced center-back Tran Thi Thu to replace Thu Thuong (25 years old) in this match, proved to be quite unnecessary because Thailand almost did not create many dangerous opportunities.

The Thai women's team only really played well in the first 10 minutes of the match when they organized quite a clear attack. They hit the crossbar once in the 4th minute, and 5 minutes later organized a quite dangerous attack.

Luckily, center back Chuong Thi Kieu was able to clear the ball in time before top scorer Janista Jinantuya (4 goals) got the ball in the penalty area.

Winning is not "satisfying"

Coach Mai Duc Chung fielded 8 out of 11 players aged 30 or older to start against Thailand. The remaining three players were Nguyen Thi Van (29 years old), Tran Thi Duyen (25 years old) and Hai Linh (24 years old). But that experienced squad could only score once against a much younger opponent, leaving the crowd packed into Lach Tray Stadium with little opportunity to celebrate.

The only goal of the match was scored thanks to the timely "speech" of captain striker Huynh Nhu in the 36th minute. This 34-year-old player boldly broke through on the right wing, overcame the strength of young defender Pinyaphat Klinklai (17 years old) right at the edge of the penalty area and then passed the ball inside for Thu Thao to shoot with one touch to score the goal.

The rest of the players regrettably missed their chances. Bich Thuy alone had two unbelievable misses in the first half after facing goalkeeper Pawarisa Homyamyen twice. Or in the second half, Pham Hai Yen (replacing Huynh Nhu) also had a rather regrettable missed volley in the penalty area.

Although creating many opportunities, the Vietnamese women's team was not too dominant against the young Thai players. Coach Mai Duc Chung's team only controlled the ball 53% in the first half, taking 5 shots (2 on target) compared to only 1 of Thailand.

In the second half, the attacking rate was not better when only 5 more shots were made (1 on target), despite coach Mai Duc Chung sending a series of attacking players Hai Yen, Thanh Nha, Truc Huong onto the field.

Entering the semi-finals with 3 wins, but to reclaim the title, the Vietnamese women's team clearly still has a lot of work to do.

Vietnam women's team anxiously awaits opponent

The opponent of the Vietnamese women's team in the semi-finals will only be determined today (August 13), when the final round of Group B ends with two matches between the Philippines and Myanmar and U23 Australia and Timor Leste.

With 6 points in hand, Myanmar is the team that has the right to decide when only needing to draw with the defending champion Philippines (3 points) to win the ticket. U23 Australia (3 points) also has a certain advantage because they only have to face the weak opponent Timor Leste.

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NGUYEN KHOI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giai-bong-da-nu-dong-nam-a-2025-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-thang-tien-vao-ban-ket-20250813100820859.htm