Vietnam in tough group with US at Women’s World Cup

This is considered a mountain to climb for Vietnam (34th on world ranking) as the U.S. are the defending and four-time champions and the number one team on world ranking, while the Netherlands are eighth.

The final team of group E will be either Thailand, Cameroon and Portugal.

Before the draw, Vietnam were in pot three with Costa Rica, Jamaica, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Colombia and Argentina.

This is Vietnam’s very first time to qualify for a Women’s World Cup. Vietnam are one of the six qualified teams in Asia, besides China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and the host Australia.

Head coach Mai Duc Chung has looked at the championship as an area for Vietnam to learn.

“It will not be easy to invite such strong teams to Vietnam for friendlies. In this tournament, we will have the chance to compete against them and that’s the most exciting thing. We cannot go far in this one, but the team will try to embrace our spirit with high determination to achieve the goals that we have set,” Chung said before the draw.

The team will start preparing and training in early 2023 after the first leg of the national championship concluded.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup will take place from July 20 to August 20 in Australia and New Zealand.