Vietnam hope to win the ASEAN Women's Football Championship starting on May 1 in Ho Chi Minh City.

CoachNorimatsu Takashi, who has worked with the team for several weeks, isconfident of retaking the trophy that they lost two years ago.

Hesaid he was surprised at the professional attitude of Vietnameseplayers who, he said, worked very hard, focused on his programme andquickly carried out all exercises.

Myanmar and Thailand arepowerful teams, so Vietnamese women need to be in top shape. Takashisaid he was satisfied with their progress.

He said Vietnam had chances to go further, but needed time to build up into a really strong team.

He said there was something similar between Vietnamese and Japanesewomen's football although there was a big gap between two teams in worldranking.

Japan spent 20 years to become world champions with the support of many experts and foreign players.

He said it would be the same for Vietnam, who have to improve thequality of the national championship as well as create more competitionsfor them.

Mai Duc Chung, head of the Vietnam Football Federation's (VFF) National Teams Department, agreed with Takashi's goal.
Takashi has 24 players in training. Many competed successfully during the Asian Games where they entered the semi-finals.

The championship will kick off on May 1. Vietnam will play Myanmar aday later. Both teams are considered at a higher level compared toMalaysia and the Philippines in Group B. They are expected to secure twoberths to the knockout stage.

In Group A, Thailandand Australia are expected to be semi-finallists as their rivals,Indonesia and Laos, are not as strong as them.

Teams will compete in the May 1-10 event at the Thong Nhat Stadium.

Last year, visiting team Japan took the trophy after beating Australia5-3 in the penalty shoot-out. Vietnam won a bronze medal afterdefeating Myanmar 3-1 in the third-place play-off.-VNA