Vietnamese women's football team defeats Nepali one 2-1 on April 8. (Photo: VFF) Hanoi (VNA) — In an exhilarating match at Dasarath Stadium, Vietnam secured their place in the second Olympic women's football qualifier after defeating Nepal 2-1 on April 8.
Vietnam and Nepal were the only teams left in Group C after Palestine and Afghanistan withdrew from the competition. The upperdogged Vietnam quickly took control of the game and dominated Nepal from the very start.
Phạm Hai Yen wasted no time in opening the scoring just five minutes into the game with a close tap-in from a Nguyan Thi My Anh delivery.
A minute later, Thu Thao dashed down the right wing and provided an excellent cross for Yen, who made no mistake and scored her second goal of the match.
Despite conceding two early goals, Nepal regrouped and fiercely resisted Vietnam's attempts to score for the rest of the first half.
In the second half, Vietnam's coach Mai Đức Chung gave opportunities to his young players to try and score more goals, but they could not capitalise on their chances.
Nepal nearly had a goal in the 67th minute when Dipa Shahi lashed the ball towards the net but was denied by the post.
After two matches, Vietnam won 7-1 on aggregate and will now advance to the second Olympic women's football qualifier.
“Nepal placed second in the South Asian region, so we played the games cautiously," said Chung at the post-match conference. "We are happy with the second win and qualify for the second round."
The Vietnamese team is one of the seven that qualified for the second round through matches. Five other teams, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Australia, Republic of Korea, and China, were given byes to this round.
They will be divided into three groups and compete in a round-robin format competition from October 23-31. Three top teams and one best second-placed squad will enter the third round./.
