The draw for the qualifiers was held at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday, seeing Vietnam drawn into quite a favourable group with three underdog teams.
Vietnam, ranked 33rd in the world, will compete with lower ranked Tajikistan (no. 135), Maldives (no. 144) and Afghanistan (no. 152).
However, head coach Mai Duc Chung said that it is not really Vietnam’s advantage. "We meet teams far behind us in terms of the world rankings. Some will think that we have good opportunity, but for me personally, we should not be subjective and must always respect our opponents, because as we improve, they also improve.”
“At this time, football in Vietnam and around the world continue to be affected by the complicated development of the COVID-19 epidemic. All our activities are suspended, the team is unable to practice and resume competition. It has been very difficult, especially for women's football; since the beginning of this year the women's football team only had one training camp. The players, especially the young ones, need time to get used to their teammates and practice, so I think we must continue to try and make greater efforts. The team can only focus again, at the earliest after the end of the National Women's Football Championship," added Chung.
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Draw for the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers. (Photo: AFC)
The qualifying tournament see 28 teams drawn into four groups of four and four groups of three, with the winners of each group clinching their place in the finals, scheduled to take place from January 20 to February 6 next year in India.
Defending champions Japan, 2018 runners-up Australia and third-placed China as well as hosts India have already qualified for the finals, which will see an expanded 12 teams competing for the continent's premier women's national team title.
The final tournament will also serve as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, in which Australia has already qualified automatically as a co-host. Five teams will qualify directly for the World Cup via the knockout stage (including play-offs for fifth place or possibly sixth place), while two more teams will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.
The qualifiers are to be played during the official dates of the FIFA Women’s International Match Calendar from September 13-25 this year.
