The national women's team practice in Hà Nội before they leave for South Korea for Olympic qualification. Photo vov.vn

HÀ NỘI — The national women’s football team will leave for South Korea for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics tonight (January 30).

Coach Mai Đức Chung and his 23 players will spend six hours flying to Jeju Island where they will spend five days practising ahead of the tournament.

The Southeast Asian Games champions, who will play without key defender Chương Thị Kiều due to a knee injury, are in Group A with Myanmar and the hosts.

They will first meet Myanmar on February 6 and South Korea three days later.

Two top teams of this group will advance to a play-off round where they face two leading teams of Group B. Two winners of these matches will win their Olympic slots.

Group B gathers powerhouses China and Australia, together with Chinese Taipei and Thailand. Their matches were first scheduled on the same day as Group A in Wuhan, China, but because of the coronavirus outbreak it was moved to Nanjing and now due to its continued spreading it has been moved to Sydney, Australia. VNS