Vietnamese fans and victory on the stage of the World Cup 2023
On the afternoon of July 22, FIFA announced that the number of fans attending the opening match of Group E between Vietnam and the US was 41,107 people. At Eden Park with a capacity of 50,000 seats, the majority are American fans - the team holds the record of four championships. Only about 3,000 of them came to cheer for Vietnam in its first appearance in the largest playground on the planet. However, like the players on the pitch, overwhelmed in number, but the Vietnamese fans made a strong impression on their opponents.
A day earlier, the owner of the flag - Ms. Nguyen Thuy Hien - posted on a forum for Vietnamese people in New Zealand, asking everyone to support raising the flag in the stands. Hien flew from Ho Chi Minh City to Auckland to take care of her own business and accidentally discovered the World Cup soccer team here.
"Due to a busy schedule, I was only able to cheer the team for the first match," she told MetaSports. "The intention to come to the cheering field was also unexpected, so we prepared the flag a bit urgently. However, when we entered the stadium, we saw that the fans' love for the home team was very large. We were inferior in number, but we chanted cheering slogans with the same volume and frequency as American fans. Hope that spirit will be maintained in the next matches."
Before the tournament, FIFA confirmed that this would be the biggest and most attractive congress in history. This statement is met with many skepticism. The tournament being held in Australia and New Zealand is said to make it difficult for strong teams and their fans because of the long distance. The increase in the number of participating teams from 24 to 32 means there will be more professional matches, like how the US beat Thailand 13-0 at the 2019 World Cup to create the biggest difference in the tournament's history.
The match between the US and Vietnam was noticed in this respect. Many people wait to see how many times the US will hit Vietnam's net. But in fact, despite being completely overwhelmed and losing 0-3, Vietnam's mental dominance was shown before the ball rolled. The New York Post even questioned why the entire Vietnamese squad sang the National Anthem in unison, while only three American players did this. In the stands, although scattered in many areas, Vietnamese fans also sang to create the atmosphere of the biggest football festival on the planet.
"I've been in New Zealand for eight years, but I've never seen such an event with so many Vietnamese," said Nguyen Dinh Tung, editor of Regional News in Wellington. "I went to see it with my cousin and aunt and uncle. My aunt and uncle flew here from Vietnam just to cheer for the team. I know that Vietnam's strength is not as good as other teams, but winning tickets to the World Cup is already a miracle. I have no expectations, my only dream is that from today, the world will know about Vietnamese women's football with a tireless fighting spirit."
Tung affirmed that he would continue to come to the field to watch Vietnam play regardless of the results.
According to data from the New Zealand National Bureau of Statistics in 2018, there are more than 10,000 Vietnamese people living and working in this country, with an average age of 27.7. Many young people choose to study and work in the country of Oceania. But in terms of sport, if not a fan of rugby, New Zealand is little known.
At the 2023 World Cup, all three group stage matches of Vietnam will take place in New Zealand. The match against the US in Auckland, against Portugal on July 27 in Hamilton, and the match against the Netherlands on August 1 in Dunedin. The distance between these three cities is not close, but many Vietnamese fans do not regret buying plane tickets to follow the team.
On average, each ticket to watch Vietnam matches costs NZ$40, equivalent to nearly 600,000 VND. Most fans go with their families spontaneously, they buy tickets in advance on the FIFA website. Therefore, in the yard, Vietnamese fans do not gather in one area but sit scattered. However, the colors of the flag and shirt quickly drew them together.
Doan Lan Vy, a lecturer at a university in Wellington, with her husband, two children and mother came to cheer for Vietnam. At the yard, they and the family of an acquaintance prepared cheering equipment and took advantage of interacting with American fans. Vy said she also met Vietnamese fans from Australia or Germany.
"Because my family loves football, I used to go to the stadium to watch the Vietnamese men's team play in my hometown. But the first time watching the women's team play live, taking place abroad, gave me different emotions," she said. "In the midst of a forest of American fans, seeing the colors of the Vietnamese flag and shirt makes me emotional and proud. I consider myself luckier than my friends in Vietnam because I witnessed this moment."
Women's football is often rated less attractive than men's football in terms of entertainment and confrontation between players. This makes many fans still hesitant to spend money to watch women's teams play. According to FIFA's announcement, the total prize money of the 2023 World Cup is 110 million USD, only a quarter of the 2022 World Cup for men's teams, resulting in female players being paid less.
As someone who has watched both the Vietnamese men's and women's teams compete, Ms. Vy believes that the effort and money spent to come to the field to watch the women's team play is completely worth it, even though Vietnam lost to the US. "My family and I consider the value and satisfaction level of the two men's and women's teams to be equal. We came to the field because of the spirit of national solidarity. Moreover, the overcoming difficulties of the female players touched our emotions and made us feel proud."
Mr. Tung commented: "I came to the field partly because I was a fan of Thanh Nha, Huynh Nhu, Duong Thi Van or Hoang Thi Loan - the beauty of Vietnamese football. I don't care about the result. The effort of the female players because of the colors of the flag is already a worthy reward for the fans."
