Hai Yen and the 'Last Dance' at the Asian Games: Vietnam Women's Team Uncompromising Preparation

The training pitch in Suzhou (China) on the afternoon of September 5 had no crowd noise. Only whistles, the sound of the ball hitting the grass, and decisive orders from the coaching staff. During the 90-minute session, the Vietnam women's national team was not simply running laps or building fitness. They were perfecting tactical plans for specific opponents at the 2026 Asian Games. This meticulousness is not accidental. It reflects a philosophy: major tournaments are not for improvisation.

The preparation journey of the Vietnam women's team is designed along a deliberately harsh difficulty curve. On September 5, they faced Jiangsu FC – a physically strong club in the Chinese women's league. Four days later, on September 9, they stepped up against the China women's national team – one of Asia's leading powers. Afterwards, coach Mai Duc Chung's squad moved to Japan, where they would face Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Thailand in succession. This is not a typical friendly schedule. This is a calculated escalation problem, designed to take the team from a state of control to a state of maximum pressure ahead of the tournament.

What stands out is how the coaching staff selected opponents. They did not choose comfortable teams to create a false sense of security. They chose opponents with technical, high-tempo playing styles – characteristic of East Asian teams. This suggests the analysis department has done thorough research and determined that potential opponents in the Asian Games group stage will play similarly. Scheduling the Thailand match at the final stage (September 21) is also a subtle tactical detail: it simulates a scenario of facing a Southeast Asian rival in the tournament, keeping the team regionally sharp.

In that context, Pham Hai Yen is not just a player. She is the emotional and tactical anchor. Stating that this Asian Games 'could be the last of her career,' the forward born in 2026 is not creating pressure; she is igniting passion. But as someone who has followed Vietnamese women's football for years, I see a dual reality: the 'last dance' effect can elevate a veteran, but it can also become a psychological burden. World football history has witnessed both scenarios.

The key point lies in the Vietnam women's team investing selectively in preparation quality, rather than the quantity of matches. The structure of light recovery sessions in the morning and a 90-minute tactical block in the afternoon is a typical periodization framework in elite football. It shows the coaching staff is not burning out the team. They are fine-tuning, not rebuilding.

However, there is a blind spot that the media often overlooks: the reliance on a veteran generation. Hai Yen and several other pillars are at the end of their careers. If an injury occurs, or form does not peak at the right time, this is the team's biggest risk. The lack of information about promoting young players in these friendlies is a notable gap. In modern football, a national team cannot rely on a single generation.

Another paradox: choosing China and Japan as friendly opponents is a signal of ambition, but also a reminder of the quality gap. Japan, with its high pressing and lightning-fast transitions, is the harshest test for Vietnam's defense. If the team is pinned back in the September 14 friendly, that is not failure; it is data. What matters is how they process that data.

From a governance perspective, the VFF organizing a multi-country training tour with two legs (China and Japan) shows significant financial commitment to women's football. This is a positive signal, but it also raises questions about sustainability. Is this part of a long-term strategy, or just an investment for one tournament?

From a scheduling perspective, the Vietnam women's team is positioned as a mid-tier Asian side, with ambitions to close the gap with the leading group. The 2026 World Cup qualification was a historic breakthrough, but football does not live in the past. The 2026 Asian Games is a chance to prove that progress was systematic, not accidental.

Finally, I want to emphasize: Hai Yen may score or not in the match against Japan. But her real value lies in leading a younger generation into Asia's harshest environment. When she talks about 'leading young players,' it is not lip service.

The stadiums in Japan will not be empty this September. But if the Vietnam women's team fails to read the signals from these friendlies, an empty stand could be a metaphor for an underwhelming Asian Games. The silence in the meeting rooms now, before the tournament, will determine their voice on the pitch later.