Vietnam Women's Team Undergoes 'Revamp' After Farewell to World Cup Dream

With a 0-4 loss to Japan, Vietnam's national team was formally knocked out of the Asian Cup 2026, and also could not pursue their aspiration of making a second World Cup appearance.

The Japanese women's national team, a two-time Asian Cup champion, concluded the group stage with a perfect 9 points and will face Philippines in the next round, while this defeat caused Vietnam's team to miss the opportunity to advance to the quarter-finals.

In Japan's starting lineup, only Yui Hasegawa and Saki Kumagai retained their positions compared to the 11-0 victory over India in the second match. Meanwhile, Vietnam's team made five changes, with Khong Thi Hang starting as goalkeeper, while Huynh Nhu and Pham Hai Yen were on the bench. Immediately after the opening whistle, Riko Ueki nearly opened the scoring for Japan when Maika Hamano spotted her midfield run with a cross, but the West Ham United striker's shot narrowly missed the post.

Next, Yui Hasegawa posed a threat when her long-range volley in the 5th minute went wide of the goal, before another shot inside the box was timely blocked by Vietnam's defense. Vietnam's team maintained a tight five-player defensive system, but still showed danger in counterattacks when Ngan Thi Van Su unleashed a shot from outside the box forcing goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita to showcase her skills.

Japan's continuous pressure finally yielded the opening goal in the 21st minute. Riko Ueki received Hasegawa's cross and headed a powerful, curling shot into the top right corner of the goal. As Japan continued to intensify pressure, Khong Thi Hang helped Vietnam's team avoid further goals. In the 30th minute, the goalkeeper of Than KSVN Club made an excellent save against Aoba Fujino's close-range volley, before blocking Ueki's strong header nine minutes later, and then again denied this striker's lob shot at the far post.

Japan maintained their attacking intensity after the break and needed only 6 minutes to double the lead. Momoko Tanikawa delivered a perfect pass to substitute player Maika Hamano, who nutmegged Tran Thi Thu Thao before slotting the ball into the net. By the 64th minute, Vietnam's team conceded another goal from another beautiful combination when Tanikawa threaded a pass to Fujino and this player bypassed the opposing defender before shooting into the low right corner of the goal.

Three minutes later, two substitute players Hinata Miyazawa and Kiko Seike combined impressively, with Seike firing a powerful shot into the net, sealing a decisive 4-0 victory for Japan. In the simultaneous match, Chinese Taipei defeated India 3-1 and, along with Japan, secured qualification for the quarter-finals.

At the end of the group stage, Vietnam's women's national team earned 3 points with a -4 goal difference. Compared to Philippines (goal difference -2) and Uzbekistan (goal difference -2) on the ranking of the best-performing third-place teams, this goal difference led to Vietnam's women's team being eliminated.

Vietnam's farewell at the Asian Cup 2026 can also be described as coach Mai Duc Chung's farewell to the nation's women's football, made even more sorrowful by this 0-4 defeat. Coach Mai Duc Chung is a monument in Vietnam's women's football, but history cannot forever cling to success when the squad lacks freshness and the team's generational transition did not deliver the expected effectiveness.