Three major tasks for women"s team in 2006

The Vietnamese women”s football team won the third consecutive SEA Games gold medal in 2005, affirming its top position in Southeast Asia. The team now has three major tasks in 2006 when they compete at the Asian finals, the second Southeast Asian championship and the 2008 Olympic Games.

 

In the FIFA standings released in mid December 2005, Vietnam occupied top spot in Southeast Asia for the first time and ranked 21st in Asia and 36th in the world. This is significant development of Vietnamese women”s football after ten years of building.

 

The third consecutive SEA Games gold medal affirmed the reigning position of Vietnam in Southeast Asia. It is time for Vietnamese women”s football to head for a better position in Asia. After beating Hong Kong 4-1 in the qualifying round in 2005, Vietnam qualified for the Asian finals for the first time. However, coach Mai Duc Chung and his players will not consider the Asian championship an opportunity to gain experience. As planned, the finals will be held in Japan in July. Therefore, the women”s team will be called up from early May. After the Asian championship, the team will get ready for the second Southeast Asian championship in Thailand in October, and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games” qualifiers.

 

Coach Mai Duc Chung said that the team”s gathering in different periods of time were in accordance with 2006 fixtures. Also, the team will continue its generation change when veterans Bich Hanh and Thanh Mai will quit the team. The exit of the veterans had been predicted, so the coaching board has planned to find players to fill the gaps of the veterans. However, this is not an easy job at all. Thanh Huyen, Nguyen Thi Huong and Tran Thi Minh Nguyet have shown their improvements, but they still lack experience. The only way to help them is to send the team to domestic and international friendly tournaments. The Vietnam Committee for Physical Education and Sports and the Vietnam Football Federation will certainly create favourable conditions to help the team.

 

Three major tasks in 2006 are still ahead. Vietnamese spectators place their trust on their players, Vietnamese golden footballers.

 

Minh Tien

Vietnam Sports newspaper