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Vietnamese women's football player (No. 7) in the match against the US team at the 2023 Women's World Cup final round. |
However, the experiences they had in the world-class playground provided significant motivation and lessons, which incentivized them to reach a higher level in the future.
Inferiority in terms of expertise
To have a comprehensive view of the team’s journey at the 2023 Women's World Cup, it is necessary to evaluate from the preparation stage with the training and tournament in Europe more than a month ago. Totally, the Vietnamese women's football team joined 6 matches against the world's highest-class opponents, beginning with the friendly match against Germany, and ending up with the one against the Netherlands.
The team conceded 25 goals and scored only 1 goal. Ball possession rate ranged from 27 to 33 percent, with only 3 out of 9 shots launched in the right direction and only one really dangerous situation, which ended with Thanh Nha's goal against Germany. Fans are waiting for a miracle, but obviously, there is no basis for coach Mai Duc Chung and his students to do it, given such modest achievements during the tournament.
The goal against Germany cannot change anything, as mental strength or some personal qualities are not enough to achieve a convincing victory, which requires high professionalism. It is commendable that coach Mai Duc Chung's students still managed to maintain their confidence and bravery, but as the greatest teacher of women's football once admitted, mental strength alone is far from enough to win the World Cup.
It can also be seen that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) put “unprecedented” effort into the women's team. The team was trained for a long time and had the opportunity to face high-class opponents. Coach Mai Duc Chung and his students left for New Zealand early to get used to the weather conditions, with huge support from the government and businesses.
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The Vietnamese women's football team learns a lot from the 2023 World Cup. |
On average, Vietnam only has 250 passes each match and the accuracy rate is 58 percent, among the 4 teams with the lowest accuracy index in the tournament. Although the 8 teams that attended the World Cup for the first time did not make it through the group stage, teams such as the Philippines, Morocco, Portugal, and Zambia all had historic victories, and what they all have in common is good physicality.
Vietnam’s outdated competition system
All three European teams, namely Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, started to attend the World Cup in 2015. Despite being developed for only 15 years, the football teams in these countries are making leaps and bounds thanks to the drastic change in their domestic competition system, with the increasing number of professional female players.
For example, the Portuguese National Championship for which Vietnamese striker, Huynh Nhu, is playing was established in 1985. However, not until 2007 did it turn professional with 14 clubs after developing a second division. The matches attract 5,000 spectators on average, with the Benfica - Sporting match reaching a record of 27,000 spectators last year. There are currently 57,000 female players who have registered to play professionally in this country.
The Vietnam Women's National Football Championship was established in 1998 and so far has only increased by one team compared to seven clubs in the first season. Although VFF tries to create more opportunities for the National Cup, the actual number of football players is only about 500 to 700 people.
Some women's football teams today are almost semi-professional, receiving training salaries and having extra income when joining tournaments. Given the modest number of teams, the national championship is only an internal matter between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with almost no competition. There were even times when the national team was nothing different from an extended version of the football club of HCMC.
Thus, in the respects of the competition system and the scale, the gap between Vietnam and the strong opponents recently at the World Cup is almost unbridgeable, and obviously cannot be solved by mental factors alone.
Huynh Nhu - an ideal football player
Up to this point, Huynh Nhu is the first and only female football player to have gone abroad. Her destination is an European country with a championship in the top 15 of women's football in the world. It only took Huynh Nhu 3 months to integrate and score her first goal, and she became one of Lank FC's key players just after the first year of her contract.
At the 2023 World Cup, Portugal only lost to the Netherlands 0-1, and even threatened the victory of the US team - the world champion. Therefore, even though this was the first time the Portuguese team participated in the World Cup, the quality of this team's squad was really impressive. This was thanks to the quality enhancement of the women's national championship over the past 15 years. Therefore, Huynh Nhu's success in Portugal shows an opportunity to upgrade the level of Vietnamese women's football.
Huynh Nhu's success reflects great credit for the Vietnamese football team and lays a fertile ground for Vietnamese players to confidently join foreign tournaments. Given the inadequacies in the domestic competition system, Vietnam is in need of more professional players such as Huynh Nhu to raise the individual level and improve the quality of the national team.
