Vietnam Women's Team: Overcoming a Major Mountain

Japan leads Group C after winning both previous matches. They have scored 13 goals and conceded none against opponents India and Chinese Taipei. Japan has also already secured qualification to advance as the group winner.

Vietnam Women's Team must exert maximum effort and find the best way to secure points against this opponent.

Japan Women's Team (world ranking 8) is a strong contender for the championship. The Japanese squad participating in this year's tournament includes 22 players currently playing abroad. Among them, 16 players are playing in England. The remaining 6 players are playing in Spain, the USA, and Germany, which are among the world's top women's football leagues.

Currently, all three of Japan's top scorers are playing in England. They are midfielder Hinata Miyazawa (Manchester United), forward Riko Ueki (West Ham), and Kiko Seike (Brighton & Hove Albion).

Leading the Japan Women's Team is Coach Nils Nielsen. This coach previously led the Denmark Women's Team to the runner-up position in the 2017 European Championship. This Danish strategist is also the first foreign coach in the history of the Japan Women's Team, with hopes of restoring glory. Not only aiming to win the 2026 Women's Asian Cup, Coach Nils Nielsen also aspires to lead Japan Women's Team to win the World Cup for the second time in 2027.

Considering the matchup, it is clear that Vietnam Women's Team is rated much lower than Japan. The girls from the land of the rising sun have reached world-class level, alongside strong teams like Germany, England, Spain, or Brazil. They have been world champions and Asian champions.

Japan has defeated Vietnam in all five previous encounters in the Women's Asian Cup, scoring at least three goals each time. The most recent was a 3-0 victory in the 2022 Women's Asian Cup in India.

In the 2026 Women's Asian Cup, besides the top two teams from each of the three groups, the two best-performing third-placed teams also qualify for the quarter-finals.

On the ranking of third-placed teams, Vietnam Women's Team is temporarily leading with 3 points, goal difference 2/2. The two teams behind are Uzbekistan (3 points, 4/6) and Philippines (3 points, 2/4). Uzbekistan and Philippines have the same goal difference of -2, but Uzbekistan ranks higher due to scoring two more goals. Therefore, Uzbekistan has already secured one of the two spots for third-placed teams to advance to the quarter-finals.

India Women's Team still has a chance and could push Vietnam out of the third position if they defeat Chinese Taipei with scores like 2-1, 3-2, 4-3...

Vietnam Women's Team is unlikely to defeat Japan to enter the top two of the group, but can compete for one of the two wildcard spots reserved for the best-performing third-placed teams. Therefore, Vietnam Women's Team is only allowed to lose to Japan by a margin of 1 or 2 goals and hopes India does not win to secure a quarter-final spot.

Vietnam can only advance if they lose to Japan by a 2-goal margin with scores like 1-3, 2-4, 3-5... In that case, Coach Mai Đức Chung's team would have the same goal difference as Philippines but score more goals.

If they lose to Japan 0-2 and provided India does not win, Vietnam and Philippines would have the same goal difference and must be decided by a secondary criterion (fair play).

Both Vietnam and Philippines have received 2 yellow cards. If Coach Mai Đức Chung's team loses 0-2 to Japan and receives no further penalties. Then, Vietnam Women's Team would be equal in all metrics with Philippines, such as goal difference (2-4), penalty cards (2 yellow cards). The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) would have to draw lots to determine the team that advances.

The match between Vietnam Women's Team and Japan Women's Team will take place at 16:00 on March 10. Although the path to advancement is very narrow and the dream of a second World Cup seems closed, Coach Mai Đức Chung's squad still expresses confidence that a miracle could happen.