Vietnamese young striker Ngân Thị Vạn Sự (No 13) seen in the match with Myanmar in the third round of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Thursday. Photo foxsports.com.vn

The 18-year-old forward is only 1.52m tall but her header was enough to send Việt Nam to the play-off round of women’s qualifiers with one game to go.

Two days before Việt Nam meeting Myanmar, coach Chung asked Sự if he could rely on her if she was selected. Despite being one of the youngest and shortest players in the squad, she confidently told him he could count on her.

Sự proved it was a good choice as she played all 90 minutes and scored in the 62nd minute.

“I am very very happy as it is the first time I have played for the national team, I even scored a goal. My teammates and I tried our best. But if we were more confident, we scored more goals,” said Sự.

Sự didn't make the squad for the side's run to the gold medal at the 30th Southeast Asian Games, which concluded in the Philippines last December. At that time, coach Chung didn’t dare to select young players. But after the Games, he knew it was time to use young talents to look to the future.

Among the U19 team, Chung had paid most attention to Sự thanks to her intelligent and versatile way of playing and started her against Myanmar.

Lucky girl

Five years ago, Sự left her home in the central province of Nghệ An to play for the U14 team of Hà Nội.

Vạn Sự means “everything”. Because of her strange name, she is often teased by her teammates at Hà Nội Club.

When she didn’t train well, her teammates told her that “Vạn Sự Khởi Đầu Nan – the first step is the hardest” and when she practised well, she received a sentence “Vạn Sự Khởi Đầu May – everything begins luckily”. Sự often smiled at their jokes.

Hà Nội women’s football has four levels and Sự experienced all of them including U14, U16, U19 and the senior team, that plays at the top level of women’s football in the country.

“Sự has a very good grasp of tactics. Also, she is very intelligent and clever so she was called to the first team when she was 16 years old,” said coach Phùng Thị Minh Nguyệt of Hà Nội.

“Sự is only 1.52m tall but she is very brisk, dynamic and accelerates rather well. She was the best player of the National U19 Women’s Football Championship for two years in a row,” said Nguyệt.

“She is very daring so she falls in line with the national team very fast. In daily life, she is nice and swift-tongued, even she is sometimes cunning. She is very lovely,” Nguyệt added.

With the win against Myanmar and entry to the play-off round, the Việt Nam Football Federation (VFF) awarded the team VNĐ400 million (US$17,400) and Phạm Thanh Hùng, head of women's football department of the VFF awarded the team VNĐ500 million ($21,700). VNS

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