Vietnam in contention for slot at Women’s World Cup 2023

The Asian Cup acts as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. Alongside host’s Australia, Asia will have five additional slots for the global tournament thanks to their results at Asian Cup 2023

This means that even teams which lose in the quarterfinals and do not make it to the final four of the regional tournament still have a chance of competing at the World Cup.

The most likely situation is that Australia defeat the Republic of Korea (RoK) to progress to the semifinals. As a result, the four losing teams in the quarterfinals will compete against each other to earn the right to play at the Women's World Cup through the play-off stages.

It would be difficult for Vietnam to overwhelm China in their coming clash, and chief coach Mai Duc Chung now pins hope on a play-off match to win a World Cup berth.

It is likely that Vietnam will take on Thailand in a play-off match, as the Thai team have little chance of winning over Japan in the quarter-finals.

If Australia lose to the RoK, the losing teams in the quarter-finals will compete in a round-robin format in order to choose the winning team to enter the World Cup.

Even if Vietnam are defeated in their next match and fail to rank top of the play-off stages, then the pathway to the 2023 Women’s World Cup will remain open for the Vietnamese team.

It is possible that Vietnam will have a chance to go to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup through an inter-confederation play-off match which is scheduled to take place in late February in Australia and New Zealand.