Coach Mai Duc Chung: 'Vietnam's opponents are naturalizing players en masse'

"The 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Championship is more difficult than the recent 2026 Asian Women's Championship qualifiers. The opponents of the Vietnamese women's team have been naturalized en masse, such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia, who have almost completely naturalized their teams," coach Mai Duc Chung told the media on the afternoon of July 18.

Mr. Chung added: "Playing against teams like that requires good physical strength. We will improve our physical strength, endurance and muscles through a training trip in Quang Ninh from July 20."

In the second training session of the year, the Vietnamese women's team will practice in Hanoi from July 13. To have a good physical foundation, in recent days, coach Mai Duc Chung's students have been practicing on the field from 3:40 p.m. every day, under the 32-degree Celsius temperature (feels like 36 degrees Celsius) of the capital Hanoi.

"Despite the hot and humid weather, the players still showed a commendable training spirit. The young players who have been called up to the national team have also made rapid progress. I also told them not to be shy or afraid of being scolded by their seniors. The coaching staff and the whole team are ready to let them play in the starting lineup if they improve and reach high performance," said coach Mai Duc Chung.

Mr. Chung said that he had just sent Nguyen Thi Tuyet Ngan (appendectomy) back to her family. At the same time, he revealed the good news that player Nguyen Thi Thanh Nha can return to practice with the team this week after a period of injury and having to practice separately.

In Group A of the 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Championship, the Vietnamese women's team will compete with Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand on August 6, August 9 and August 12, respectively, all at Lach Tray Stadium, Hai Phong . The top two teams will advance to the semi-finals.