Singapore U20 Women lost to Vietnam at the Asian Cup qualifying campaign, performance sparks optimism regardless

SINGAPORE: The Singapore U20 Women’s Team unfortunately lost to Vietnam with a final score of 5-0 in the opening match of the AFC Under-20 Women’s Asian Cup qualifying campaign. Despite the loss, Head Coach Fazrul Nawaz shows optimism for the squad’s performance.

“Vietnam is a quality team and they have qualified for the U20 Asian Cup before – even their senior team has qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup before. So, yes, the girls should be proud of their performance (against Vietnam)… Against this kind of team, especially in the first half, I thought we really fought well,” Nawaz said.

On social media, Nawaz also remarked: “I want to take the positives of the first half of how they played and how they created the chances. We had a few chances in the first half, even second half, yes, a bit less… So I want them to believe that they can do it, and play the football that they want to play in the second and third match.” 

Highlights of the game

The national team started strong in the first half of the match and opened many opportunities to score a goal. However, they went into halftime losing by only one goal. 

Chantale Lamasan, Singapore’s goalkeeper, has exhibited good defensive skills and stopped many shots. Their opponent scored their first goal in the 15th minute after the ball bounced back to the player–the ball went through even as Chantale tried to stop it. 

Throughout the match, Chantale made more saves so that Singapore could attack more. However, as Yuvika Suresh ran fast and passed down the ball to Sarah Zu’rishqa, who tried to make a shot, Vietnam’s goalkeeper stopped it. 

After the halftime break, Vietnam then dominated the game by scoring two goals–one at the 48th minute mark and another at the 50th minute. 

Moreover, Vietnam scored two more goals by the end of the game and eventually clinched victory. 

With the girls’ performance, Nawaz admitted that the team needs to “maintain focus throughout the game” and that the team needs to fully concentrate on their decisions and actions as they play the 90-minute match. 

Netizens have mixed reactions to the results of the match. One expressed that Singapore should now be open for foreign athletes if they want to succeed: “Vietnam is a country with over 100 million population, and they (the Vietnamese) are hungry for success. This is a good example of why Singapore needs to be open to foreign talents.” 

Another netizen expressed hope and addressed that the match could have ended much worse and that the girls could do better in the next matches. 

One more netizen admitted frustration and stated: “5-0 is not a hard fight, it is a poor performance. Run around the field and do not know what to do.. Lack of creativity and ideas.” 

The national team will now battle against the Kyrgyz Republic on August 8, 2025, at 5 p.m. SGT.