The Vietnamese women’s football team training to prepare for the match against the Netherlands in their last group match in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Tuesday. Photo VFF

Women’s World Cup

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnamese national women’s football team are set to face the Netherlands in their last group match of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Tuesday.

Despite losing to the US team 0-3 and Portugal 0-2 in their previous matches, the Vietnamese team is determined to score their first-ever World Cup goal against the tournament runners-up.

Coach Mai Đức Chung has emphasized the importance of focusing on learning from the team's experience at the World Cup. Meanwhile, the Dutch team is sharing the lead with the US team in Group E with four points after two matches. Their goal in the upcoming match is to win a strong victory over the Vietnamese team to take the top spot in the group.

Coach Andries Jonker of the Netherlands expressed his caution and appreciation for the efforts of the Vietnamese team in their first appearance at the World Cup.

Jonker said at the press conference on Monday: “We have to win and play with dedication to the fans. Before the match started, we studied our opponent carefully, preparing for the match against Việt Nam. I take every match seriously and preparing for the game against Việt Nam is no different from preparing for the match against the US before.”

“Việt Nam are a good team, we respect them. Việt Nam kept the score 0-2 against Portugal and 0-3 against the US, these results are quite good against strong opponents."

Jonker also did not hesitate to reveal his plan for the decisive match.

"We will play with a 3-5-2 formation, the Netherlands will play offensively. In football, we can't say anything. We have the goal of playing well, playing with dedication and inspiration. Basically, we want to win every match well. In the Netherlands, a lot of fans follow us, watch the match and support us," he said.

“The Netherlands will play our best but we are not subjective against Việt Nam."

Meanwhile, Dutch captain Lieke Martens said: "If given the opportunity, I would love to score against Việt Nam. I hope we can score at least three goals in this match. We did a lot of research in the two previous matches of Việt Nam who have a solid defensive style so we need to try very hard to score in the upcoming match."

FIFA announced the list of referees who will manage the match between Việt Nam and the Netherlands.

Ivana Martincic of Croatia has been appointed as the main referee for the match, with assistants from Estonia and Romania. Martincic served as a referee assistant in the first match between Việt Nam and the US. She was born in 1985 and became a FIFA referee in 2014. She served as a referee at the EURO 2022.

FIFA's appointment of a Croatian referee for a match with a team from Europe is surprising, as referees usually come from a different continent than the two competing teams. However, FIFA has relaxed referee rules in recent years, as long as the referees are not from the same country as the two competing teams.

The upcoming match will take place at 2pm (Hà Nội time) on August 1 at the Taylor Park Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand.

It is the world's first fully enclosed and covered stadium and can guarantee play in all weather conditions, even in the cold and rainy winter at Dunedin. VNS