Vietnamese women's football team will meet Australian women's team in the Women's Asian Cup's opening match May 19 at the Chengdu Sports Centre City in Sichuan province in China.
This is the first match between two teams at the continental women's football competition since Australia officially became a member of the Asian Football Confederation in 2005.
Vietnam is considered the underdog in the match while Australia is one of the contenders for the title.
The Australian team has many stars including US-based strikers Sarah Walsh and Lisa De Vanna and Europeans Heather Garriock and Kate Gill.
To prepare for the tournament, Vietnam flew to Chengdu City on May 7 and played two friendlies, beating Chengdu City's women's team 3-0 and drawing 0-0 with Sichuan Province's women's team.
Vietnam 's head coach, Vu Ba Dong, said the team had improved its physical strength after friendlies and was ready for the match today.
Vietnam will be without the services of experienced defenders Van Thi Thanh and Nguyen Thi Mai Lan, who have opted not to join the team.
Lan, 30, decided not to take in the tournament due to health reasons while Thanh, who is four years younger, said she wanted to concentrate on her studies at the Sports College .
Hosts and eight-time champion China will start their campaign to regain their dominance with the match against the South Korea in the remaining match of Group B.
"It's a fairly difficult group. China will definitely have the advantage in front of the home crowd. The Republic of Korea are a tough team and have made significant improvements in recent times while Vietnam are always difficult to play against," Australia 's head coach Tom Sermanni told www.the-afc.com.
The matches of the Group A, which includes the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Japan , Myanmar and Thailand , will take place tomorrow at the same stadium with defending champions (DPRK), meeting Thailand and Japan taking on Myanmar .
Two top teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
The biannual tournament will take place from May 19-30 and also serves as a qualifying competition for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, which will be held in Germany .
Only the top three Asian teams from the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2010 will progress to the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup./.
This is the first match between two teams at the continental women's football competition since Australia officially became a member of the Asian Football Confederation in 2005.
Vietnam is considered the underdog in the match while Australia is one of the contenders for the title.
The Australian team has many stars including US-based strikers Sarah Walsh and Lisa De Vanna and Europeans Heather Garriock and Kate Gill.
To prepare for the tournament, Vietnam flew to Chengdu City on May 7 and played two friendlies, beating Chengdu City's women's team 3-0 and drawing 0-0 with Sichuan Province's women's team.
Vietnam 's head coach, Vu Ba Dong, said the team had improved its physical strength after friendlies and was ready for the match today.
Vietnam will be without the services of experienced defenders Van Thi Thanh and Nguyen Thi Mai Lan, who have opted not to join the team.
Lan, 30, decided not to take in the tournament due to health reasons while Thanh, who is four years younger, said she wanted to concentrate on her studies at the Sports College .
Hosts and eight-time champion China will start their campaign to regain their dominance with the match against the South Korea in the remaining match of Group B.
"It's a fairly difficult group. China will definitely have the advantage in front of the home crowd. The Republic of Korea are a tough team and have made significant improvements in recent times while Vietnam are always difficult to play against," Australia 's head coach Tom Sermanni told www.the-afc.com.
The matches of the Group A, which includes the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Japan , Myanmar and Thailand , will take place tomorrow at the same stadium with defending champions (DPRK), meeting Thailand and Japan taking on Myanmar .
Two top teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
The biannual tournament will take place from May 19-30 and also serves as a qualifying competition for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, which will be held in Germany .
Only the top three Asian teams from the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2010 will progress to the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup./.
