AFC Women's Asian Cup 2008 Qualifiers:Vietnam reach the finals

Vietnam on March 28 entered the final round of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup thanks to another win from Ngoc Cham’s only goal in the match against Myanmar. 

Ngoc Cham was celebrating her fifth goal at the qualifying round

The first half saw balanced performance of Vietnam and Myanmar. Vietnam had several good opportunities, however the dogged fight of the guests’ defence line helped stop all the host’s scoring attempts.

Entering the second half, Chinese coach Chen Yun Fat strengthened the line-up, pushing Ngoc Cham upfront, and as a result the Myanmar defence was continuously challenged byVietnam’s sharp attacks.

In the 66th minute, Thi Thanh launched a curling shot outside the penalty box, forcingMyanmar goal keeper to parry it out. The ball then hit the bar and rebounded  to Ngoc Cham who then easily pushed the ball into the net.

Later, Ngoc Cham had another good opportunity to widen the score but her shot sailed out-side the right post.

Securing three wins, Vietnam topped the group and qualified for the final round. After the match, the Vietnam Football Federation awarded the team with VND 300 million to encourage their impressive performance at the qualifying round.

Chinese Taipei luckily booked a berth despite a 3-2 loss over Iran. Chinese Taipei, Iran andMyanmar all had three points with one win and one loss, however Chinese Taipei went through with a better goal difference.

The Republic of Korea and Thailand in group B, will also go to the finals.

Four seeds, including China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan and Australia, will join the above-said teams at the final round of the 2008 Women’s Asian Cup which will take place from May 28 to June 8 in Malaysia.