The world media on July 22 ran articles appreciating Vietnam’s performance in their first match at the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, although they lost 0-3 to the reigning US champions.
On its website, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) wrote: “Vietnam produced a steely performance as defending champions the United States were made to work hard for a 3-0 win”.
“Tournament debutants Vietnam frustrated the four-time champions with their disciplined and resolute defending and will look forward to their remaining matches with confidence,” it added.
Michael Cox, a British journalist and author who provides football analysis for the UK branch of The Athletic, wrote: “Fair play to Vietnam coach Mai Duc Chung. A more positive and competitive display than could have reasonably been expected so far, AND he was keeping track of stoppage time with an actual stopwatch”.
The US-based The Athletic also dedicated a part of the match summary to comment on the World Cup debut of the Vietnamese team. Author Jeff Rueter wrote that: “In 2019, the United States opened its World Cup with a headline-grabbing 13-0 win over Thailand. For people who don’t follow international soccer, they may have expected a similar opener against Vietnam, which was making its Women’s World Cup debut. On Friday that was exposed as somewhat naive — after all, Vietnam played tournament favorite Germany close in a narrow 2-1 defeat just a couple months ago. Even after conceding in the opening 15 minutes, they held their own against the United States by often keeping ten defenders between the ball and goal during build-up play and fighting for every challenge”.
“Ultimately, there wasn’t a storybook ending for this first World Cup game. It’s hard to imagine a much tougher draw than the two-time defending champion, but the tournament newcomers did themselves proud with a vocal contingent of supporters whose cheers of pride could be heard on the broadcast every time they progressed up the field,” Rueter added.
“This was expected to be an easy one for the US women, and while Vietnam put up a stubborn defense with a few good goalkeeping moments, it was indeed pretty easy,” according to an article posted on The Guardian.
FIFA also praised goalkeeper Thanh’s performance. “Tran Thi Kim Thanh take a bow. The Vietnamese keeper has had a sensational first half and now saves an Alex Morgan penalty on the stroke of half-time!” the world football governing body wrote on its Twitter.
Vietnam will play against Portugal on July 27./.
Source: Vietnam News Agency