VN eyes Women’s World Cup on ‘golden chance’

A greater number of participants and the elimination by default of a strong opponent are seen as golden chances for Vietnam to strike for a slot at the Women’s World Cup 2015.
FIFA has recently announced that Asia will be given five slots at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, instead of three tickets as usual. Meanwhile, North Korea, the second runner-up of the 2011 edition in Germany, will be banned from participation following a doping scandal at the event.

Vietnam will first have to attend the qualifiers of the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2014 to win a ticket to the final rounds, where the five top finishers will represent Asia to compete in Canada a year later.

The qualifiers will start next year with four groups, with the leader of each group securing a place in the final rounds, where Australia, Japan, China, and South Korea – the four countries that topped the 2010 edition – are qualified by default.

“The chance is open wide for Vietnam, and we will exert all efforts to grab this opportunity,” said Nguyen Trong Hy, chairman of the Vietnam Football Federation.

Huge investment

Hy said the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has even encouraged Vietnam to apply to host the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2014 finals to increase their chance to win a ticket to the 2015 World Cup.

“We will seek permission from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism about this issue. If we are allowed to host the event, we will invest more in the women’s team,” he said.

The chairman said the national and U-19 women’s teams will assemble annually beginning next year to attend domestic and overseas training trips before competing at the SEA Games 27 in Myanmar.

“We must win the SEA Games trophy to motivate us for the World Cup target,” he said.

2014 will see the largest-ever investment in women’s football, with all mobilized capital earmarked to fund the girls’ training trips.

“VFF will also send some ace players to be trained in Japan or Korea,” Hy added.

In regard to hiring a new international, high-level coach to achieve the target, Hy said such an action is unnecessary.

“We still trust in coach Chen Yun Fat as he has been working well with the team,” he said, adding that the contract with the Chinese coach may be extended by the end of this month.