Vietnam U19 women's team (left) in the final loss to Thailand on the evening of June 18 - Photo: NK
Not only do they have impressive physiques, the Thai U19 women's team also has very good skills. This is not surprising because Thailand has called many young, even very young players to train and compete in the national team in the past 2 years. In the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Thailand used a squad with an average age of 19.4.
Kurisara Limpawanich - the striker who just won the "Top Scorer" and "Best Player" titles of the 2025 Southeast Asian U19 Women's Championship - is only... 16 years old. Kurisara is also the "Top Scorer" of the 2025 Thai Women's National Championship with 19 goals for the College of Asian Scholars Club.
"I feel proud because although I am only 16 years old, I have won the championship and two individual awards at the 2025 Southeast Asian U19 Women's Championship. Now we are aiming for the dream of participating in the U20 Women's World Cup," Kurisara shared.
But Kurisara is not the only one in Thailand. Rinyaphat Moondong - the midfielder who scored the opening goal against Vietnam U19 women - participated in the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics in 2023. At that time, she was only 16 years old. Now, Rinyaphat is the third-best scorer in the 2025 Thai Women's Championship with 14 goals.
The Thai U19 women's team also has 3 other players who have played for the national team: defender Parichat Thongrong, center back Pinyaphat Klinklai and midfielder Rasita Taobao. Not to mention 4 other U19 players who did not go to Vietnam because they are focusing on the Thai women's team preparing for Group B of the 2026 Asian qualifiers. A long-term preparation for Thai women's football.
With many key players now over 30, coach Mai Duc Chung has implemented a rejuvenation campaign for the Vietnamese women’s team. However, the young players are only given the opportunity to train with their seniors, not many of them get to play.
Ngoc Minh Chuyen - the 21-year-old striker who just scored against the German women's club Werder Bremen in a friendly match that ended in a 1-4 loss in Hanoi in May - shows that there are many people like her.
With the U19 female players but already have experience playing for the national team, Thailand is a big challenge for Vietnam in the future.
Not to mention, the Philippines - the current Southeast Asian women's champion - is also very formidable with many Filipino players playing in the US and Europe. And Indonesia is also massively naturalizing the national women's team. Therefore, Vietnamese women's football needs to have good preparation for its young generation.
Coach Okiyama Masahiko believes that the defeat against Thailand will bring a lot of experience to the young Vietnamese players. "This is a good generation of Vietnamese women's football players. Although we have not been able to win the championship, the future is still ahead. We will try to improve ourselves to aim for the 2026 Asian qualifiers in August in Hanoi and further, the U20 Women's World Cup."
Winning a ticket to the final round of the 2026 AFC U20 Women's Championship in Thailand is not beyond the reach of Vietnamese women's football. However, to be able to advance to the 2026 U20 Women's World Cup is not simple when only the top 4 teams in Asia will get tickets to Poland.
Not qualifying for the U20 Women’s World Cup is not a big deal for Vietnamese women’s football. But the important thing is to invest better in the current U19 women’s team so that they can compete with regional rivals in the future.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tu-tran-thua-u19-thai-lan-ap-luc-da-den-voi-bong-da-nu-viet-nam-20250620090959277.htm
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