Women face heavy pre-Games schedule

Female footballers will only have one chance to practise before taking part in December”s 24 th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games at the International Women”s Coal-Minerals Football Tournament, which will kick off on Oct. 26 in Quang Ninh province”s Cua Ong Stadium.

The tournament, which is also known as the Viet Nam Sports Newspaper Cup, has seen three foreign teams from Chinese Taipei, Laos and the Shandong team from China .

They will play in a round robin against host rivals Cua Ong Coal and the national team, who consider the tournament to be their final test before the SEA Games.

The two best teams will enter the final match.

Two of Viet Nam”s main rivals at the SEA Games Thailand and Myanmar refused to participate in the championship. It will be a great loss for the national team, who will defend their champion title at December”s Games.

However, the Shandong team, under coach Gai Yudian, is one of the stronger teams in the China football league, and Chinese Taipei have shown their savvy in matches against Viet Nam several times before.

The final match is scheduled for November 5.

VNA