Head coach Mai Duc Chung: Vietnam showed a lot of heart against Myanmar
Head coach Mai Duc Chung paid tribute to Vietnam’s courage following their 2-2 draw with Myanmar which secured their slot in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022™ quarter-finals on Thursday.
29/01/2022 16:34:13
Vietnam had to come back twice through Nguyen Thị Tuyet Dung and Huynh Nhu to cancel out strikes from Myanmar’s Win Theingi Tun and Khin Marlar Tun at the D.Y. Patil Stadium as they pipped their Southeast Asian rivals to a place in the knockout stage.
Vietnam advanced as one of the two best third-placed teams and will play eight-time champions China PR in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
Mai, who has had several coaching stints with the Vietnam team since 2003, said the team persevered despite numerous obstacles – including a COVID-19 outbreak – and were highly motivated against Myanmar.
“We had to fight to get the goals,” said Mai. “Vietnam suffered plenty of setbacks ahead of the tournament with the COVID-19 situation and we didn’t have enough players who were fit enough to compete.
“However, from our first game till our last in the group stage, we were determined to succeed and the players never gave up and played to their best. There were uncertainties that we could play, but we still pulled through and got over our shortcomings.”
With the half-time score at 1-1, Mai told his players to remain focused, even though they were struggling to adjust to the humidity at the D.Y. Patil Stadium.
“There were plenty of differences compared to the two games we played in Pune. For starters, it’s hot here and the early kick-off time made my players tired after 45 minutes. I told them to keep playing and not give up.
“This game against Myanmar is our best so far in this competition. Even though we didn’t score from open play, we still got the job done and made it to the quarter-finals. I’m not worried about my players’ scoring abilities.
“We will face China PR in the quarter-finals. They are a one of the best in this competition, a top ranked team. They would have had more time to recover and we must focus on our recovery ourselves. We will do whatever it takes to win.”
Despite being happy with his team’s overall performance, head coach Tin Myint Aung was disappointed with Mynanmar’s exit from the competition.
“We were prepared to win the match,” said Tin. “We played well in the first half and I’m very happy with the players and how they performed today. In football if you can’t secure your advantage then you might lose the match and we were a bit unlucky as well.
“After 30 minutes into the first half I had to make some changes as some of our players were losing concentration. They were unable to venture past Vietnam’s compact defence. I’m just disappointed we couldn’t advance further into the competition because we dominated this game.”
Source: AFC
