The Vietnamese women’s football team in a training session. (Photo: baophapluat.vn)

Inthis qualifier, the eight strongest teams in Asia are divided into two groupsto choose the best teams and second of each group for the play-off round. 

GroupA consists of hosts the Republic of Korea (RoK), Myanmar, Vietnam and the DPRK,while Group B has Australia, Thailand, China and Chinese Taipei. 

Withthis development, Group A has only three teams left, including the RoK,Myanmar and Vietnam.

Theopportunity for Vietnam and Myanmar is increasing as they need just one win toreach the semi-finals.

However,Vietnam are considered better than Myanmar, as they defeated them 4-0 to topGroup B in the AFF Cup 2018, before winning the tournament. Vietnam alsoshowed their strength at the recent SEA Games 30 which was held in thePhilippines.

“Thewithdrawal of the DPRK is a good chance for Vietnam to qualify of the Olympics.Of course, the task to get to Japan is not easy. However, if we train hard andfocus, we have the right to hope. In this team, I called both veterans andyoung players to combine experience and youth,” said head coach Mai Duc Chung.

Theteams will play in a round robin format in the RoK from February 3-9 to decidethe top two teams from each group for the play-off tournament. At the play-offtournament, each team have a home game and an away leg. The two best teams toreach the final will be the Asian representatives at the Olympics, togetherwith hosts Japan.

Asscheduled, Vietnam will play the RoK on February 3 and then face Myanmar onFebruary 9./.VNA