Huynh Nhu plays a new role in the Vietnamese women's team, making the AFF Cup more attractive

Captain Huynh Nhu is like a tightly compressed spring, just waiting to burst out in the decisive match for the top spot in Group A at the 2025 AFF Women's Cup against rival Thailand on August 12.

Huynh Nhu is ALWAYS AN EXAMPLE LEADER

Huynh Nhu deserves to be called the "golden girl", the most brilliant talent in the history of Vietnamese women's football, leaving a strong mark in a series of regional and continental achievements, reaching the World Cup dream. For many years, the girl from Vinh Long has always been the main striker helping Vietnamese women's football regain the throne from Thailand, setting a record of 4 consecutive SEA Games gold medals. In particular, the striker born in 1991 has always been an exemplary leader of the Vietnamese women's team on and off the field, planting the seeds of belief that Vietnamese women players can play football in Europe. After returning from Lank Club (Portugal), at the age of 33, Huynh Nhu is ready to switch to a more suitable playing style.

Huynh Nhu (right) is leaving her mark in a quieter role in the Vietnamese women's team.

Photo: Minh Tu

No longer the highest striker on the attack line to compete with the central defenders, Huynh Nhu has recently been frequently placed lower by coach Mai Duc Chung as a "9 and a half". In this role, she disrupts the defense's pursuit, has a lot of space to take advantage of her experience to connect the lines, and create for her teammates. Throughout the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers and now through the first two matches of the 2025 Women's AFF Cup, Huynh Nhu has not been a starter by default, having come off the bench in some matches, but still left her mark on the overall playing style. Perhaps in the past few matches, the owner of 5 Vietnamese Golden Balls has not scored, but has helped Hai Yen, Bich Thuy, Van Su... continuously score goals. In other words, the Vietnamese team with Huynh Nhu in her new role will have more diverse attacking strikers to score goals.

" EARLY FINISH" WITH THAILAND

After the first two matches, the Vietnamese women's team is ranked second in Group A due to a lower goal difference than Thailand (+13 compared to +14), forcing them to win all 3 points in the "early final" match with Thailand on August 12 to finish first in Group A. Coach Mai Duc Chung himself also prepared very well for this match by using the B team in the 7-0 win over Indonesia. This shows that he and the Vietnamese women's team are confident that they will directly defeat Thailand at home to finish first in the group, making the semi-final round more favorable.

Whether Huynh Nhu will play from the start or not in the next match depends on coach Mai Duc Chung's use of troops. But certainly, this veteran coach always remembers his student's luck in scoring against Thailand. Remember in 2022, Huynh Nhu scored the only goal to help the Vietnamese women's team beat Thailand 1-0 to win the 31st SEA Games gold medal. It was also Huynh Nhu who scored the opening goal to help us defeat this rival 2-0 in the 2022 Asian Cup play-off, on the journey to win a ticket to the 2023 World Cup... The Vietnamese women's team will be at a disadvantage after the knee injury of "anchor" Duong Thi Van. But in the hands of Mr. Chung is the whole team in good playing condition, with the enthusiastic support of Hai Phong City fans. In particular, Huynh Nhu's pent-up desire to score will be a particularly important card for the Vietnamese women's team to have another victory against rival Thailand, strongly entering the semi-finals.

Australian Women's Team Still Has Hope

The Australian women's team defeated the Philippines women's team 1-0 to keep their hopes of advancing in Group B alive. The only player who scored the only goal for the Australian women's team was Alana Jancevski. In Group B, the Myanmar women's team temporarily took the lead with 6 points and a goal difference of +4 after a 3-0 win over Timor Leste thanks to a hat trick by captain Win Theingi Tun. The Philippines ranked second with 3 points and a goal difference of +6. Australia ranked third with 3 points and a goal difference of 0. Timor Leste ranked last with 2 losses and a goal difference of -10.

In the final match of Group B taking place on August 13, Myanmar will meet the Philippines, while Timor Leste will face Australia.

Lingnan

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/huynh-nhu-dong-vai-tro-moi-o-doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-aff-cup-them-phan-loi-cuon-18525081023202057.htm