Nanjing: After the high of an excellent opening win against Korea Republic, and taking the lead against Japan, Gary van Egmond’s Australia came crashing back down to earth – conceding five second half goals as their opponents ran riot on Thursday.
Heading into their final group match, the Young Matildas are still relatively well-placed to advance, but a Korea Republic win over Japan could throw their semi-final hopes into chaos, regardless of their result against Vietnam.
While van Egmond acknowledged the precariousness of their position, the former Newcastle Jets boss had a message for his players – don’t take Vietnam lightly.
“We’ve got it all to play for now against Vietnam, and we need a favour from Japan against Korea,” he said.
“Vietnam won’t be easy at all; they’ve got some very good players – some technical players – so we are under no illusions how hard the game will be.”
The Southeast Asians have been well off the pace in Group B, conceding 13 goals in two heavy defeats to Japan and Korea Republic – teams who have held the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship trophy six times between them.
Despite their ill-fated campaign, Vietnamese head coach Vu Ba Dong has emphasised the importance of the tournament as a learning experience for his players, and urged them to give one last effort against Australia.
“For the last group match, our aim is to score a goal against Australia,” he said.
“If we can do that, we will finish our mission in what is a very hard competition.”
The Young Matildas pressing tactics worked well in the early stages against Japan, but took a physical toll as the match wore on, and van Egmond said recovery and planning would be paramount ahead of the crucial match.
“We need to ensure that we’re doing everything right between games,” he said.
“We’ll review some areas we need to improve, and there were some facets of our game that we did quite well, so we’ll take the positives out and build towards Vietnam.”
The Young Matildas boss will be hoping for more of the same from striker Remy Siemsen (pictured above), who has scored in both matches to follow a rampant qualifying tournament, which produced 10 goals in two matches.
The sides have met just once in tournament history, with current Matilda Emily Gielnik netting a hat-trick as Australia claimed a 4-3 win in Ho Chi Minh City six years ago.
Photos: AFC
Source: the-afc.com