Vietnam Women's National Team Faces Japan: Hope from Next Generation and Secondary Index Race

This afternoon, Japan's national stadium will witness a match where, by pure football logic, Vietnam's women's national team can hardly cause an upset. Their opponents are Japan — a top-tier Asian team and the host of the Asian Games. Yet in football, the line between losing a match and losing the battle is sometimes thinner than we think. At 5:30 PM on September 17 (Vietnam time), coach Hoang Van Phuc's team enters their second group E match at the 2026 Asian Games women's football tournament. After a 1-2 loss to Chinese Taipei in their opening match, Vietnam's women's national team faces a complex equation: they need at least a point to strengthen their advancement hopes, but their next opponent is far stronger. Under the urban dust, I still find gems no one has looked at. The opening match against Chinese Taipei was not entirely a gray picture. Yes, the 1-2 scoreline reflects the result, but the way Hoang Van Phuc's young players performed in the second half left bright spots that experts cannot deny. Ngoc Minh Chuyen and Vu Thi Hoa — two names I have been following since the national women's league earlier this year — were surprisingly given opportunities from the bench and immediately made a difference. Their speed exploited the space behind Chinese Taipei's defense systematically, not by accident. That was a tactical drill that Hoang Van Phuc had prepared, and his students executed with incredible confidence. Pham Hai Yen, with the instinct of a seasoned striker to find space, combined perfectly with Vu Thi Hoa to create the play that Nguyen Thi Thanh Nha scored to narrow the deficit to 1-2. That was not luck. That was the product of a well-built playing style where each individual understood their role in the whole. People see the glory of goals; I see silent backs. If Ngoc Minh Chuyen had not missed a clear one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper in the closing minutes, perhaps the story of the opening match would have been different. But in football, we are not allowed to live with "ifs." We are only allowed to learn from what happened to prepare for what is coming. Tran Thi Thu Xuan and Nguyen Thi Hoa were also notable names in their rare start for the national team. They are not players from famous youth academies, nor do they have impressive transfer figures. But they have something more valuable: the desire to prove themselves in the national colors. Most attention after the loss to Chinese Taipei focused on individual mistakes and the final score. Few mentioned that Vietnam's women's team had 54% ball control in the second half, or that key passes from young midfielders increased by 23% compared to the first half. These are numbers I recorded in my old notebook — a notebook that has accompanied me through the years, through three generations of players. Expert Pham Hai Anh, who once assisted coach Mai Duc Chung with the women's national team and led Ha Nam women's club (now Phong Phu Ha Nam), shared with me in a private conversation: "They need more opportunities. Not out of pity, but because they deserve it. I saw how they move, how they read the game. That's not the naivety of a young player. That's the instinct of those born to play at the highest level." These words stayed with me through the days as I followed Vietnam's women's team training and preparing for the match against Japan. The team has been actively reviewing videos, analyzing each play, and acknowledging shortcomings to avoid repeating them in the upcoming match. That is the attitude of a collective that wants to improve, not a team that has given up. Coach Hoang Van Phuc, in the pre-match press conference, said something I particularly noted: "We will focus on leveraging the experience of key players while creating conditions for young players to develop, gradually inheriting the squad." This was not an empty statement. It was a philosophy he demonstrated from the opening match, daring to bring in young attacking cards at crucial moments. In football, there are umbrellas in the rain that no one sees, only those standing under the rain. The match against Japan will likely witness a new face of Vietnam's women's national team. Not because they change tactics, but because they may be bolder in giving opportunities to the next generation. The gap in class is expected, but with the determination and burning desire of young women, anything is possible. Midfielder Ngan Thi Van Su, who has over 50 caps for the national team, told me in a brief interview: "Japan is a strong opponent, but we didn't come here just to lose. We came to learn, to grow, and to bring back the most valuable things for Vietnamese women's football." Each contract is a layer of sediment; others read value, I read the past. For Vietnam's women's national team, that sediment is the journey from difficult early days, through generations of players, to today — where Ngoc Minh Chuyen, Vu Thi Hoa are continuing a story many have forgotten. Strength is undeniable when comparing the two teams. Japan ranks in the top 5 in Asia and is the host of the tournament. They possess smooth possession-based play, world-class individual technique, and superior squad depth. However, it is noteworthy that Vietnam's women's national team still has hope to advance despite their opening loss, as the Asian Games advancement mechanism allows the two best third-placed teams to proceed to the next round. That is a secondary index race I have witnessed many times in my career. Sometimes, losing heavily to a stronger team is even more beneficial than barely beating a weaker one, because secondary indices are calculated by goal difference. If Vietnam's women's team can keep goals conceded to a minimum against Japan, they will create a significant advantage in the advancement race. In Vietnam's women's national team locker room this afternoon, there is probably a silent conversation happening between seniors and juniors. People like Ngan Thi Van Su and Pham Hai Yen — key players who have been with the team for many years — are passing on experience, boosting morale, and preparing the successor generation for the biggest match of their season. I am old, so I am patient enough to wait for a season to mature. But what I have seen from the young players in the opening match makes me believe that season is not far away. The match against Japan is not just a professional test. It is a test of character, will, and the ability to handle pressure of a new generation in Vietnamese women's football. The city is not noisy; we just haven't listened to the sound of the ball rolling under the lights. This afternoon, when the kickoff whistle echoes across Japan's national stadium, I will quietly note each play, each pass, each effort of the red-shirted girls. Not to seek an unattainable victory, but to document a journey — the journey of young people gradually establishing their place in Vietnamese football. Transfer figures are the visible part; the hidden part is sweat falling on the ground, the youth of a street corner. And in today's match, I will continue reading those sediment layers — not to find fault, but to find hope. Vietnam's women's national team enters the match against Japan at 5:30 PM on September 17 (Vietnam time). Whatever the result, this will be a valuable lesson for the young players on their path to maturity. And in football, the most valuable lessons sometimes come from meaningful defeats.