Vietnamese women’s team depart for round three of 2020 Olympic qualifiers

Coach Mai Duc Chung has brought 19 players along for the mission of hunting for an Olympic berth, after having eliminated Nguyen Thi Lieu, Nguyen Thi Truc Huong, Cu Thi Huynh Nhu, Dinh Thi Thuy Dung and Tran Thi Ngoc Anh from the team ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Centre back Chuong Thi Kieu cannot accompany the team to the RoK as she is focusing on recovering from injury.

Evaluating their training camp for the third round of the Olympic qualifiers, Chung said that his side has made the best possible preparations and are now ready for the campaign.

As planned, the Vietnamese team landed at the Incheon Airport this morning (January 31), where they have a three hour layover before taking another flight to Jeju Island, the hosting venue of the Group A matches of the 2020 Olympic qualifiers round three.

Group A initially comprised the DPR Korea, the RoK, Myanmar and Vietnam. However, the DPR Korea have pulled out at the last minute, which will give Vietnam certain advantages in competing for a place in the next round. Meanwhile, Group B consists of Australia, China, Thailand and Chinese Taipei.

The teams will play in a round robin format (February 3-9) to decide the top two teams from each group to progress to the play-off tournament. The two best teams of the play-off tournament, which will be played on a home and away basis from March 6 to 11, will join hosts Japan as the three representatives of Asia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Vietnam will play their Group A opener against Myanmar on February 6 before taking on the RoK three days later.