Vietnamese footballers, coaches, and referees who took part in the Asian Football Confederation U14 Girls Football Festival that concluded in HCM City on June 30 were thrilled at the opportunity it gave them to learn.

Two hundred girls from nine AFC members – Australia , China , Japan , Guam, the Republic of Korea , Myanmar , Singapore , Thailand , and Vietnam attended the two-week festival which began at the Thanh Long Sport Centre on June 17.

Nguyen Minh Thang, head coach of the Vietnamese team, said: “The players played and communicated with their peers from advance footballing countries like China , Japan , and Australia .

Hoang Thi Loan, captain of the team, said the girls learnt how to play long balls with the instep and pass with the top portion of the feet, and added to their communication and social skills because of exchanges with foreign players.

“In spite of the language barrier we and the foreign girls had fun,” the 14 – year-old midfielder who wants to play for the senior national team along with the likes of Kim Chi and Ngoc Cham, said.

This is the second such football festival organised in the country after the AFC’s U-13 Girls Festival of Football in HCM City last year.

The festival is an annual event organised by the AFC to encourage the development of women’s football in Asia and provide a forum for member-federations to exchange views on the management and development of young footballers./.