Vietnam lose 0-2 to Portugal in second Women's World Cup game

Both Vietnam and Portugal entered their second group stage game with high determination. However, only one team prevailed.

Vietnam dropped the defensive style of play in the last game against the U.S. and tried to surprise Portugal at the start but didn’t succeed.

Their plan backfried when Portugal exploited the space that Vietnam players revealed and immediately got three dangerous chances and one of them turned into a goal in the 7th minute.

The ball was easily delivered inside the box to Telma Encarncao, who easily tapped it in to open the scoring for Portugal.

After conceding, Vietnam defenders kept letting Portugal attackers threaten the goal. Only the excellence of goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh could save them from conceding more when she blocked two consecutive shots of the opponents.

Vietnam still revealed too much space, especially on the right flank and let Kika Nazareth finish comfortably and make it 2-0 in the 21st minute.

After scoring two, Portugal played slower toward the end of the first half and let Vietnam push back and got two shots on goal. The second half saw Portugal returning to attacking and left Vietnam very little space to attack. If it wasn’t for the post, the bar and keeper Thanh, Portugal would have scored more in this game.

After losing two of three group stage games, Vietnam have no chance to advance in their first World Cup.

They will face the defending runner-up Netherlands in their last game next Tuesday.