Huynh Nhu and the 4.25 SC Puzzle: HCMC Faces Their Biggest Challenge in the Asian Champions League

Kuala Lumpur, September 2026. Outside the hotel window where I stood waiting, a torrential rain poured down on the familiar streets of Malaysia's capital. After twenty years in this profession, I have never gotten used to the feeling before a draw ceremony. Something in the air, in the sound of rain on the tin roof, reminded me of the summer of 2026, when Chengdu Qbao disintegrated in a torrential downpour. Vietnamese women's football today is no longer in the clinical death throes of that Chinese second-division team, but the feeling of standing before the dressing room door, waiting for a result that could determine fate, remains exactly the same. When the draw was revealed, I saw the eyes of my Vietnamese acquaintances in the press room. They tried to maintain a calm demeanor, but I could read the tension. HCMC Women's Club, Huynh Nhu's team, had landed in Group B alongside Hwacheon KSPO WFC of South Korea, 4.25 SC of North Korea, and East Bengal of India. That year's rain washed away many things, but it did not wash away the memory of a summer. And I knew that this autumn in India would be a test unlike any this team had ever faced. The context of this year's tournament is special. The AFC Women's Champions League has been expanded to 12 teams, divided into 3 groups of 4. The top two teams from each group, plus the two best third-placed teams, advance to the quarter-finals. This means that even if HCMC cannot compete for the top spot in their group, they still have a safety door behind them. But that door is narrower than people think, and it depends heavily on goal difference — something that Coach Doan Thi Kim Chi's team has never had in their knockout matches against East Asian teams. Let's talk about the numbers first, because in football, numbers are always the starting point of a story. 4.25 SC, the North Korean champions, scored 29 goals and conceded only 1 in their 3 preliminary round matches. East Bengal scored 18 goals and conceded none. Meanwhile, HCMC's scoring record in the knockout stages of the Asian Champions League in their two previous participations is a round zero. Two losses, two matches without scoring a single goal, against opponents from Japan and China. This is a recurring pattern, and it haunts me like a bass note in a song I have heard too many times. But I am not a man who believes in haunting. I believe in what I see with my eyes, hear with my ears, and what my body feels when standing outside the pitch. From zero, I know that the dressing room door only opens when you dare to stand waiting in the rain. And I have waited a long time to observe this team. Hwacheon KSPO WFC comes from the South Korean national league, a women's football system with professional structure and tactical depth that surpasses the rest of Asia. They have never participated in the group stage of this tournament before, but that does not mean they are weak. On the contrary, their newness creates a tactical fog that opponents find difficult to penetrate. I have watched some of their domestic league matches through footage sent by my Korean colleagues. They press high, circulate the ball quickly in the opponent's final third, and are particularly dangerous in set-piece situations. This is a well-coached team with no obvious weaknesses. 4.25 SC is a completely different story. North Korea has always been an enigma in Asian football. They rarely travel abroad, but every time they appear, they cause astonishment. Naegohyang, another North Korean team, won this tournament last year. 4.25 SC comes from the same football ecosystem, where discipline, fitness, and tactical organization are trained as instinct. 29 goals in 3 matches is not a coincidence. It is a statement of power. But there is also a weakness I noticed: in their only match where they conceded, against College of Asian Scholars, they let in 1 goal. This shows they are not invincible. They can be hurt if the opponent is patient and intelligent enough. East Bengal, the Indian team, is the opponent many believe HCMC can take all 3 points from. But I am not so sure. 18 goals scored and none conceded in the preliminary round is a respectable achievement, even though their opponents in that round were not strong. What is more notable is that last year, East Bengal was eliminated in the group stage with only 3 points. This shows they have a certain gap with the top tier of Asia, but also shows they are not a weak team. They are improving, and in football, an improving team is always more dangerous than a stagnant one. So what chances does HCMC have? I have spent many years observing teams from developing football nations, and I have realized something: these teams often play better when they are underestimated. When no one believes in them, they are freed from pressure. But when they are expected to win, they often collapse. The match against East Bengal will be HCMC's defining match. Not because it is the easiest, but because psychology will play a decisive role. If HCMC plays with the mindset of a small team, defending tightly and waiting for counter-attacking opportunities, they can get something. But if they enter the match with the mindset of a big team, imposing their play and pushing forward, they will expose spaces that East Bengal can exploit. Huynh Nhu, at 35, is entering the final years of her peak career. She is no longer the player who runs the most on the pitch, but she is the best reader of the game. I have seen how intelligently she moves in the penalty area, how she positions herself to receive passes that only she can see. But against tall, strong defenders from South Korea and North Korea, those qualities may not be enough. She needs her teammates around her to run more, to contest more fiercely, and most importantly, to stay calm when being pressed. There is something I want to emphasize here, something I think many people underestimate: distance covered and sprint counts are packaged as effort indicators, but ineffective running also creates pretty numbers. I have seen too many teams run a lot but go nowhere, and I have also seen teams run less but every step had purpose. HCMC does not need to run more than 4.25 SC. They need to run smarter. They need to understand that in top-level Asian football, the difference between winning and losing often lies in small details: a positioning choice, a pause in ball control, a decision to pass short instead of long. I also want to talk about wingers. In modern football, the trend is to bring wingers into the central channels, creating overloads in midfield areas. But I believe this is homogenizing football, and traditional wingers — those who hug the touchline, cross the ball, and stretch the defense — are being wrongly erased. In the match against 4.25 SC, a team that presses very high, long balls to the wings could be the most effective weapon. If HCMC has a true winger, someone willing to hug the touchline and cross into the box for Huynh Nhu, they could create opportunities no one expects. But that requires tactical courage, something not every coach possesses. Three hundred days of an empty stadium with no applause, I heard the breathing of players more clearly in the empty stands. That saying of mine is not just a literary image. It is a truth I witnessed during the most difficult years of Chinese football. When there are no spectators, when there is no pressure, players often play more authentically. And I believe that in the matches in India, where the stands may not be as full as in Vietnam, HCMC can find psychological liberation. They do not need to prove anything to anyone. They just need to play the football they know. But there is one thing that worries me. HCMC's history in this tournament shows they have a certain ceiling. They reached the semi-finals in year one, the quarter-finals in year two, and now, in year three, they face a much harder group than the previous two times. Is this a regression? Or is it a necessary challenge for them to reach a new level? I do not have the answer. But I know that in football, nothing is linear. Some teams go up, some go down, but there are also teams that stand still and then suddenly explode. I will watch the match between HCMC and East Bengal with special attention. That will be the match that shapes their entire campaign. If they win, they will have 3 points and a positive goal difference, creating a solid foundation for the remaining two matches. If they draw or lose, they will face the prospect of having to take points from Hwacheon KSPO and 4.25 SC, a nearly impossible task based on their historical record against East Asian teams. I write about the ball, but I keep the rhythm with the hearts of the people who kick it. And the heart of Huynh Nhu and her teammates, I believe, still holds its heat. They have gone through too many difficulties to get here, and they will not give up easily. But in football, desire is never enough. You need a plan, you need preparation, and you need a bit of luck. The last summer in the rain of Chengdu's pitch taught me how cruel football can be. But it also taught me that football can bring miracles. I have seen the most underestimated teams achieve the impossible. I have seen players considered past their prime shine the brightest. And I will never stop believing that miracles can happen, even when all the numbers are against you. HCMC's first match in Group B will take place in November in India. I will be there, standing outside the pitch, observing every small detail. I will look at how they warm up, how they look at each other in the tunnel, how they step onto the field. And I will listen to the rain, if it rains, because rain always tells a story that no one else can tell. There is a question I always ask myself after each season: Are we witnessing the beginning of something great, or just a fleeting moment? For Vietnamese women's football, I believe the answer is a beginning. But that beginning needs to be nurtured with results, with victories, with goals. And HCMC, with Huynh Nhu in their squad, has the opportunity to write a new chapter in the history of Vietnamese women's football. I will wait. I will observe. And I will write. Because that is what I do. I keep the rhythm for the stories that others might miss. And HCMC's story in this year's Asian Champions League, whatever the outcome, deserves to be told fully and honestly.