Football

Vietnamese players practise on July 29 in Hà Nội. They're switching their practice to fit the World Cup timetable in New Zealand next month. Photo courtesy of VFF

HÀ NỘI — Players of the national women's football team are targeting peak fitness in the new training timetable to ensure the best performance at the Women's World Cup next month in New Zealand.

The team arrived home on June 27 from their European camp and had their first training session on June 29 in Hà Nội, starting from 8am.

According to coach Mai Đức Chung, his players have to practise at this time to get familiar with the time-zone differences. Their matches will kick off at 1pm local time, which is 8am in Hà Nội.

In the first session, Chung asked his players mainly focus on improving their fitness in the gym before running and practising in the field.

Chung said the coaching needs to have a suitable training schedule so players can reach their top potential at the World Cup.

"We have been preparing our physical strength for a long time, especially during our three weeks in Germany where you could see the players were of full energy," said Chung.

Coach Mai Đức Chung speaks with reporters about his squad's preparation for the World Cup. — Photo courtesy of VFF

"During a friendly match with the German national team, they were in good condition until the end of the game. Forward Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nhã was a prime example as she ran really fast and scored a beautiful goal in the additional time.

"We're continuing with our training plan at home to improve skill and fitness. We need to ensure this isn't an issue when we're facing the powerful teams of the US, Netherlands and Portugal," he said.

Chung added that recently players' diet and nutrition, which played an important role in players' strength, were greatly improved. Each player enjoyed meals costing a total of VNĐ1 million (US$42.5) per day alongside nutritional supplements from the main sponsor Herbalife.

Herbalife has been a partner of the VFF since 2021. In addition to financial backing, the company also supplies nutritional supplements and sports nutrition information to help players enhance their physical strength and endurance in training and competitions.

Players are given electrolyte drinks during their practise. — Photo courtesy of VFF

"The supplements by Herbalife improved our physique and assured us we wouldn't run into doping issues from using lesser-understood substances. That helped us to be confident when looking towards the World Cup," said Chung.

Recently, five athletes of Việt Nam were banned from competitions due to doping violations after using a new type of nutritional drug.

Vietnamese players will practise for about a week in Hà Nội before Chung shortlists his squad to 23 players who will fly to New Zealand on July 5.

They will play the hosts in a friendly on July 7 at McLean Park Stadium. Five days later, they will have another friendly match against Spain - their last tough before the Australia/New Zealand World Cup begins on July 20.

Việt Nam is in Group E playing in New Zealand and will meet with defending champions the USA on July 22, Portugal on July 27 and the Netherlands on August 1. VNS