Coach Mai Duc Chung is not satisfied despite winning 5-1
On the Dashrath field, Vietnam kicked on foot, winning a big victory thanks to a brace from captain striker Huynh Nhu and goals from Pham Hai Yen, Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy and Nguyen Thi Thanh Nha.
However, the team also experienced many heart-pounding moments because of the laxity in defence. Typically, in the 9th minute, Tran Thi Thu Thao and Hoang Thi Loan left the ball unobserved for goalkeeper Khong Thi Hang, letting Amisha Karki drop to shoot over the bar. In the 34th minute, Tran Thi Thu and Le Thi Diem My hesitated to give the ball to each other, creating an opportunity for Karki to finish close to the city but could not win against Khong Thi Hang. In the second half, Vietnam conceded a goal in the 79th minute. In this situation, Hoang Thi Loan lost the ball, while the midfield duo Diem My and Tran Thi Thu could not stop Sabitra Bhandari's shot.
"The team won, but there were still some situations where the coordination was not good. Five goals were scored, but that is only a relative number, it needs to be overcome more," coach Mai Duc Chung assessed. "We will review and learn from experience."
He also explained that the team has many key players in the defense with injuries, while the reserve players have not shown themselves. However, he believes that in the upcoming SEA Games and World Cup, the team will have a stronger force.
Currently, Chuong Thi Kieu, the central defender in charge of the defense, has not fully recovered from surgery on both knees in September 2022 and is racing against time to be able to return to the 32nd SEA Games.
Coach Mai Duc Chung also gave some reasons why the Vietnamese women's team did not play as well as expected. Firstly, the team is not familiar with the field. Dashrath court is a bit hard, so the passes are not good, the bounce of the ball is also higher than usual. Secondly, Vietnamese women have only been to Nepal for two days, not used to a place with a higher altitude than Vietnam, the air is thin.
Group C originally had four teams, but Palestine and Afghanistan withdrew, so only Nepal and Vietnam played two rounds to choose the next team. The second leg will take place on April 8. Coach Mai Duc Chung said that although the team won the first leg, the team was not allowed to be subjective.
The leader of the Hanoi hometown also gave his opponent many compliments to Nepal. He said: "As expected from the beginning through the video of the match between Nepal and India, the opposing players have shown a good spirit of competition. They have a striker wearing the number 9 shirt possessing strong physical strength and skills. Tactics have lines. Nepal's goalkeeper also plays well. If they didn't have this quality goalkeeper, they would probably lose even harder."
