Viet Nam trounced Singapore, 11-0, in the opening match of the Asian Women's U19 Championship qualifier in Hanoi on November 5.

Photo: VNA

The host went ahead in the first half with six goals and continued tearing Singapore's net in the second half with five more. The win made them Group C leader.

In another Group C match, Australia defeated Hong Kong, 6-0, to rank second. Beatrice Goad scored a double in the second half while the other four goals were divided equally in two halves of the match.

Australia is considered the strongest in Group C with its women’s football rating always among the FIFA ranking’s top ten.

The other group members - Singapore, Hong Kong and Viet Nam - are all at a lower level and have not yet achieved outstanding results at the continental arena.

Most recently, Viet Nam finished second at the 2014 AFF U19 Women’s Championship, only succumbing to U19 Thailand 5-3 in an unlucky penalty shoot-out.

Viet Nam’s toughest opponent in Group C is U19 Australia. Sitting 10^th in the current world standings, Australia’s women’s footballers always exert their full powers at continental competitions.

Asked about Viet Nam’s Group C opponents, the national team’s coach, Nguyen Duy Hung affirmed that all players would play to the best of their abilities to realise the goal of advancing into the finals of the Asian Women's U19 Championship.

Viet Nam will play Hong Kong while Australia will face Singapore on November 7.

The qualifiers feature 14 teams in four groups competing in a round robin format to decide the top scorer of each group who will progress into next year’s finals in China.

The top four finishers of the 2013 championship, including Republic of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, China and Japan, have already earned wild cards to the finals.

(Source: VNA)