Football

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnamese national football women’s football team have been drawn in Group B of the qualifying round of 2022 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup.

Coach Mai Đức Chung’s team are the No 1 seed in the group alongside Tajikistan, the Maldives and Afghanistan.

All of Group B’s matches will take place in Tajikistan, with matches scheduled for September 13-25.

The AFC have drawn 28 teams into four groups of four, in addition to four groups of three, with the winners of each group progressing to the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup finals in India, scheduled to take place from January 20 to February 6.

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Defending champions Japan, 2018 runners-up Australia, third-placed China, as well as hosts India have already qualified for the finals, which will see an additional 12 teams competing for the continent’s leading title.

Group A will have three-time champions Chinese Taipei, Bahrain, Turkmenistan and Laos. Group C consists of three-time winners North Korea, Singapore, Iraq and Indonesia. While Myanmar, United Arab Emirates, Guam and Lebanon are in Group D.

Jordan, Iran and Bangladesh are in Group G while 1983 winners Thailand, Palestine and Malaysia will compete in Group H.

According to FIFA, the eight countries from the continent that will directly qualify for the 2023 Women’s World Cup will be decided after the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup. In addition, the country which finishes ninth will compete in a play-off match against a team from another region.

According to coach Chung, Việt Nam will meet weaker teams in the qualification of AFC event but his team always respect their opponents because as Việt Nam improve, their opponents also improve.

“At this time, football in Việt Nam and the world continues to be affected by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. All of the activities of Vietnamese women’s football are on pause, we can’t practise and play.

“Since the beginning of this year, the women’s football team has only had one training camp. The players, especially the young ones, need time to get used to each other and practice, so I think that the Vietnamese female team have to continue to try and work harder,” said Chung.

“The team can only gather again after the end of the national women’s championship,” Chung added.

The Vietnamese national women’s football team climbed one place in the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings released for the second quarter of the year. They have risen to 32nd with 1,657 points, one place above their position during the first quarter.

Việt Nam are the sixth-best team in Asia, with Australia leading the way in the region, followed by Japan and North Korea in second and third, respectively. — VNS

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