Author name: Joseph Chin

International Break In more ways than one, this is going to be bittersweet. There can be a (happy) problem of having too many away days and too little time to balance things out. I’m not prepared to complain that our club and its teams have punched well above our weights and smashed through glass ceilings. Hence I’m taking a break from travelling and going for neither of the historic group stages proper for the AWCL or the destiny decider that is the ACQ in Hong Kong. Sydney and Malacca were high points of my 2025 trips that have largely revolved around football, and I’m due to travel for a much needed non-football holiday soon. Granted, it will be the last time in at least a year before the WT get to go on to the continental stage again. Over to the likes of Albirex and Still Aerion as they aim to bring greater competitiveness in the league and motivate “the others” to take things just a little more seriously while aiming for a crack at the AWCL and showing that it isn’t just us who provides the highlights and the platform for local talents to aim high. As much as the party will eventually end before the new dawn, our final flourishes in this historic 2025 will be helpful with our rebuilding in 2026 as we look back and look forward to overcoming the blips that ended our hat trick title streak. Battleground: Saigon Thong Nhat Stadium has been a fortress for HCM City last campaign, despite match attendances being 10% of its 14000+ capacity. Being one of the three stadiums spread across the country that regularly host the WNT in its internationals, its inner city location is a short hop away from the international airport to its north. Team Profiles HCM City Ami Takeuchi played against the Vietnamese champions in the last half hour of their 2-0 win by Urawa Reds, and with our newly minted Japanese ace now given a starring role far bigger than the collective defensive effort from packing the midfield, this match would go a long way to decide our progress to the knockout stages. As much as the Vietnamese league seems to be a threadbare affair, with only 6 teams battling for both the championship and dwindling attention, the Vietnamese champions can call upon the services of quite a few experienced internationals who have grown together as a unit in the years when women’s football was still under the radar. With defensive veterans Chuong Thi Kieu and Tran Thi Thu Thao holding the fort admirably with goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh, and long serving captain Tran Thi Thuy Trang still evergreen at 37 years old (with her jersey number 88 to match), the stage is set for all time WNT top scorer Huynh Nhu to add to her 2 goals from last season and add gloss to her glittering career high 69 goals in 116 international matches. Meanwhile, American-born Pakistani WNT captain Maria Khan headlines the foreign contingent in HCM City, with Tunisian international leftback Samia Aouni being another eye-catching addition to the American quartet of Aubrey Goodwill, Sakura Yoshida, Tatiana Mason and Chloe Gorman. While not much is known about the latter four, it is likely that they will play some part in the closing stages while using their most experienced heads to counter the youthful energy that our squad will present in order to stamp their authority in the midfield battle. Stallion Laguna The Philippine outfit qualified via the competitive Women’s Cup, pipping league champions Kaya IloIlo to the valuable slot. With a heavy American influence, both through their imports and also players with Filipina blood who has chosen to represent their ancestral land in elevating their emerging power status within the AFC, this is going to be one of the toughest matches other than Melbourne City The McDaniel sisters Chandler (forward) and Olivia (goalkeeper) have not just excelled on opposite ends of the field, they have even helped influence their younger brother to take his football seriously enough to be called up for the Azkals. Olivia played for the legendary Brazilian club Santos after a brief splitting of ways with her Costa Rica-bound sister after a brief stint in Austria. With the reunion of the globetrotting Californians complete, they return to the Philippines looking to translate their national team form into club action. Kaya Hawkinson is a familiar face to the more senior Lionesses, having scored the first goal in a 7-0 rout of Singapore in the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship. Yet another Californian who has chosen to don Filipina colours, her lethal combination with Chandler McDaniel upfront will be one to watch for our defences. Meanwhile, Texas born Isabella Pasion will be one to watch for the future with 17 caps at the tender age of 19, while Malia Cerdon and Rhea Chan wait patiently for their time in the sun to feature for club and country. Charisa Lemoran is also expected to have some influence in midfield, as one of the rare native Filipino born players who could hold her own against the American influx. Melbourne City It is a testament to how strong the Australian Matildas are as a squad, that Holly McNamara remains City’s most recent call up (and one of only two locally based A League Women players called up for a high profile friendly against England). Also true is when former youth internationals from abroad pitch up in Australia while the best of the locals eventually grow good enough to make the reverse trip to Europe. It won’t be long before attention from abroad falls on young prospects Alexia Apostolakis, Shelby McMahon and Bryleeh Henry, while Laura Hughes and Karly Roestbakken can call upon their European experiences (with Icelandic side Throttur and Norwegian giants Lillestrom respectively) to add an edge despite being just 24. Former Real Betis goalkeeper Malena Mieres would benefit from the guidance of player-coach and A League Women legend Melissa Barbieri

Given how bland our away trips in the ACL2 are going to be (Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and probably Bandung which will be a heavily secured affair), this SFT writer’s upcoming trip to Malacca will be a wildly unpredictable experience, given how uneven women’s football is developed even within regional associations, never mind the AFC. Prelude First, we at SFT would like to wish our LCSWT alumna Danelle Tan all the best with NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza (nevermind my torn allegiances between Urawa Reds for their tifos and Sanfrecce Hiroshima because my kind SFT colleague Chin Heng blessed me with the fan edition of their Regina (Women’s Team) jersey from their infamous Germain away day). Being the only foreigner in a team otherwise full of locals, mirroring the situation of their men’s team vice-captain Matheus Vidotto, Danelle’s work ethic and application would be key in fighting for a place within a team with fully capped Nadeshikos and even seasoned professionals who wouldn’t look out of place in European teams. Which brings us to how women’s football and its development are viewed by wildly varying viewpoints within various nations. While our fledgling league contains teams that are mostly tied to clubs with well established men’s football sections, similar to Japan, Australia and continental Europe, others have to contend with limited funding and attention due to their amateur status and a disinterest towards women’s football in general by potential sponsors and well-resourced men’s clubs (out of all the K League clubs, only Suwon FC has a fully integrated women’s team within its club setup) It is also worth noting that some clubs may choose to have women-only teams due to desire for independence, forging their own organic developmental paths instead of being beholden to their male counterparts in an uneven power balance, with Still Aerion being the standard bearers of this approach in our leagues. This is particularly so when there is apathy (if not outright resistance) to the idea of organized women’s football within certain FAs, amounting to piecemeal initiatives to conform to the barest minimum that the AFC recommends. Snapdragon’s snappy Teamviewer (Glory Glory to the Hot Mess!) With the withdrawal of the Abu Dhabi CC from the group stages, the best runner up out of the 5 groups will join the 6 already qualified teams from the strongest confederations to play in the group stages. That presents a rare opportunity for the Sailors to make a strong claim for the best runner up, as 2 wins is the minimum to provide a buffer in case of a weak start against Etihad. Al Nassr, Kitchee and Naegohyang (North Korea) might also be aiming for the group stage, so a lot might boil down to fine margins, goal differences and shock draws by unheralded teams. Etihad Club Somehow, our Lionesses have a knack of drawing Jordan for both club and country, and while we may moan at the way we get beaten soundly, credit has to be given for the visionary leadership of the Jordanian Prince Ali in pushing for reforms that allow an inclusive game both domestically and within FIFA, someone who was ahead of his time in strengthening the women’s game within the Arabian peninsula. Playing away from Amman this time round after hosting the Sailors to a 5-0 defeat last season, the reigning Jordanian champions have hired English Managing Director Lizzie Fluke and Dutch trailblazer Mary Willemsen as their Manager and Technical Director. Having first started FC Twente’s women’s section and pioneering various initiatives to promote mixed team participation in the Netherlands, while mentoring future professionals via the Holland Football University, the Jordanians have laid down a marker by utilising their first mover advantage as one of the more progressive nations within the AFC for women’s football to borrow some European expertise in development. One of their more eye-catching foreign signings is young Nepalese international midfielder Preeti Rai, who has been given a rare opportunity to develop her skills in a far more competitive setting than the local league dominated by teams from the uniformed services. Mozambique international striker Cidalia Cuta will also be expected to deliver the goods in tandem with Jordanian star players Mai Sweilem and Enas al-Jamaeen, who plundered a goal each in our Lionesses’ 5-0 defeat at the AFC Women’ s Cup Qualifiers. Other than that, Etihad Club’s status as a springboard for Jordanian players past and present to aim for the bigger leagues has also borne out in their recent callups, from former striker Maysa Jbarah who is Jordan’s all time top scorer to her successor Leen Al-Btoush who will be expected to lead the line for Etihad. Meanwhile the keen competition for slots have also seen both goalkeepers Malak Shannak and Shireen al Shalabi being capped for club and country (in mirroring our situation with Beatrice Tan and Izairida Shakira), while experienced WNT campaigners Alanoud Ghazi and Zaina Hazem will be expected to feed a steady stream of chances for star finishers Mai Sweilem and Rouzbahan Fraij. As a key building block for the Jordanian WNT, Etihad will look to qualify for the Group Stages after their creditable, if ultimately futile attempt to qualify for the Asian Cup (an agonizing loss to Iran allowing their Persian rivals to take the tournament slot) Kelana United Truth be told, looking at Kelana United’s team sheet reminds us of how good we get when it comes to a functioning league, however flawed its execution. For 6 of the Indonesian WNT players who featured in the recent MSIG Cup that we declined to participate in, joining the Malaysian league in its infancy is better than not having any league action at all back home. As is endemic amongst many of our regional associations in promoting women’s football, the voices of big promises by the powers-that-be ring hollow when the willing hearts and minds cannot keep up with the physical effort required to maintain consistent engagement and gameplay. What these ladies lack in skill, they make up