Coach Mai Duc Chung affirmed that the team "cherishes every opportunity"

From October 26, the Vietnam Women's Team will enter the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics - Asian region. Coach Mai Duc Chung admitted that the Vietnam Women's Team is in a difficult group, so he and his players are determined to seize every opportunity in each match.

According to the match schedule, Coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will meet Uzbekistan (October 26), India (October 29) and Japan (November 1) in Group C of this qualifying round.

Speaking at a press conference before the opening match, Coach Mai Duc Chung said: "This is the second time the Vietnam Women's Team has returned to Uzbekistan. Four years ago, the team also faced this opponent. Indeed, although it has been a long time, our feelings about the people and landscape of Uzbekistan have not changed. This place still retains a sense of peace, harmony and tranquility. In this return, I see that Uzbekistan's football has clearly improved in terms of level. The team recently entered the third place match of Women's Football at the ASIAD. That is enough to show how high the level of the Uzbekistan Women's Team is. Having to face Japan and Uzbekistan is a difficult challenge for us, but the Vietnam Women's Team will seize every opportunity and always try. The Vietnam Women's Team has about 4-5 young players. The upcoming matches will be an opportunity for me to watch their playing style, thereby aiming for future goals."

On the players' side, striker Huynh Nhu shared: "The Vietnam Women's Team came to the tournament with the spirit and determination to win tickets to the third qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics. This is the last tournament of Coach Mai Duc Chung before saying goodbye to the Vietnam Women's Team. Therefore, each of us players entered the field with great determination, for the Vietnamese flag and colors as well as a farewell to Coach Mai Duc Chung."

After the press conference, Coach Mai Duc Chung and his players took a walk to get acquainted with Bunyodkor Stadium - where the match between Vietnam and Uzbekistan will take place at 7:00 p.m. on October 26 (Vietnam time).

On the afternoon of October 25, the Vietnam Women's Team also had an official training session at Dustlik Stadium in the capital Tashkent, preparing for this opening match. Despite the long journey from the stadium to the training ground, the players were still very excited. This was an important training session for Coach Mai Duc Chung to convey tactical ideas for the opening match.

The weather in Tashkent in the evenings these days is quite cold with temperatures around 18 degrees Celsius. In this round, the Vietnam team will have 1 match at 5:00 p.m. (local time) and 2 matches at 3:00 p.m. (local time). The coaching staff has calculated the training time to suit each match, aiming for the best results.

The second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics will feature 12 teams, divided into three groups. The teams will compete in a round-robin format to determine the three group winners and the best runner-up to advance to the third qualifying round, which will begin in February 2024.