Kieu Trinh applauds Vietnam football’s improvement

But their recent performances at the Olympic trials in Osaka have been encouraging, said Trinh.

Vietnam’s narrow losses to China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Osaka made many sit up and take notice that the team is improving, said Trinh, and it just may inspire some of the team’s members to keep improving, possibly bolstering the ranks of future stars.

The 30-year-old goalkeeper said women’s football in Vietnam is developing at a very fast pace, and within five years, players hope to be more competitive against teams like Korea, China and Australia, and reach the top of the Asian league.

Trinh has been a mainstay of the national team for more than a decade and she played brilliantly in Friday’s narrow 1-0 defeat by the DPRK, said Vietnam coach Mai Duc Chung.

Coach Chung said he was proud of her stellar performance that kept Vietnam in the game with a chance of beating the world’s sixth-highest ranked nation right up to the final minute.

Trinh said her future goals are to continue playing until the age of 35 and then go into coaching, where she can assist young aspiring Vietnamese athletes achieve their goal of someday winning Olympic gold in women’s football.