Coach Mai Duc Chung: 'We must have a ticket to the final round'

(PLVN) - Coach Mai Duc Chung is determined that the Vietnamese women's team will participate in the final round of the 2026 Women's Asian Cup.

The 4 coaches of the 4 women's teams participating in Group E of the 2026 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers attended a press conference on the afternoon of June 28 before the competition. Coach Mai Duc Chung, representing the host of the group, shared: "The Vietnamese women's team aims to top Group E of the qualifiers. We will show our determination right from the opening match against Maldives.

UAE, Maldives and Guam are all opponents that we respect. They have all made significant progress. Towards this qualifying round, all three teams have played friendly matches. The Vietnamese women's team needs to be careful and make a lot of effort."

Mr. Mai Duc Chung continued: “The invested teams have all progressed rapidly. Vietnam itself has also made progress in the past 2 years. Looking forward to the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers, we have had a training trip to Japan. That is a good environment for the women's team to develop. When training in Vietnam, it is difficult for us to have such quality players and we often practice with the men's teams. Therefore, being able to train in an environment like Japan is very good for our development.”

Regarding the squad, Coach Mai Duc Chung explained the farewell to Vietnamese-American player Nam Mi: “I really hope that Vietnamese-American players will return to contribute to the Vietnam women's team. We are very happy that Nam Mi is training with the team, but due to professional issues, this tournament cannot be named. In this training session, the Vietnam women's team also has the services of some young players such as Minh Chuyen, Nguyen Thi Hoa or Thu Em.”

The coach of the UAE – a direct competitor for a ticket to the final round with the Vietnamese women's team said: "After football returned after COVID-19, I had the opportunity to work with my colleagues at the UAE team. We are proud of what we have achieved. In this tournament, we will see what we can do, where we are and try our best."

Tuan Ngoc

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/hlv-mai-duc-chung-chung-toi-phai-co-ve-du-vong-chung-ket-post553391.html