Knowing that three points would send them through, Hong King, China delivered a dominant display to pick up their second-ever tournament win and head coach Ho Wing Kam expressed pride at the historic achievement.

“Today’s win was all because of the players’ efforts and the performance was our best so far here, so I am very proud,” she said. “Scoring seven goals also makes us one of the top-scoring teams of the tournament and that will boost our confidence.

“Before the match, we were determined to get all three points - regardless of whether qualification was on the line, we wanted to win and everyone was full of desire to do that, so that was the simple message (I gave them).”

A former international at 11-a-side level for Hong Kong, China who has also helmed the senior women’s side, as well as the U16 and U19 women’s national teams, this is Ho’s third time at the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup.

The 53-year-old was part of the coaching staff in 2015 before stepping up as head coach in 2018, and she underlined the importance of their breakthrough.

“It is of great significance,” Ho said. “This being the first time that we have made it out of the group stage… It will bring more awareness to the public in Hong Kong, China, be it in women’s football or futsal, and hopefully lead to better investment and progress. I am very proud of this achievement.”

Her Philippines counterpart, Rafael Rodriguez, admitted his disappointment at the result and acknowledged that there is plenty of room for improvement after ending their debut campaign with three losses in as many games.

“We started well and we scored the first goal, but I think we never felt comfortable in the game,” he said. “There are many things that we need to improve – we need to gain more experience to better cope with the stress and nerves of playing important games in important tournaments.

“I believe in hard work, so the plan is to work hard and train harder, improve and learn from this tournament. But I am very happy with the players, because they tried their best in every game, and also in training. They can be proud of their efforts.”

The Spaniard will now have to regroup with his charges as they look ahead to hosting the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup Philippines 2025 on home soil in November.

“I think we are not yet ready (now) for the World Cup,” the 43-year-old said. “It will be very difficult, playing against the best teams in the world. But our objective is not to win the World Cup, it is to improve and learn in women’s futsal in the Philippines because this will be a long process; maybe in 10 years’ time, we can challenge in a World Cup, but not now.

“We can always improve, but we need to have plans and to work hard. It is very important to play more friendly games against good teams; maybe there weren’t enough games in our preparations for this tournament. We plan to go to Europe, maybe in Spain or Portugal, but the idea is to play friendlies against strong teams.”

Vietnam, who lost 5-0 in the 2018 edition to Iran, managed to hold the same side at bay this time to end the group stage unbeaten and head coach Nguyen Dinh Hoang was sanguine after the final whistle.

Making their third appearance in as many editions, the Southeast Asians are keen to improve on their best finish of fourth in 2018 and he pointed out that the priority was to be ready for their last-eight showdown with Japan.

“The game lacked the usual speed of a futsal match as both teams had already qualified to the quarter-finals,” the 38-year-old said. “We tried to conserve energy, as we just wanted to keep our team in the best possible shape without picking up any injuries.”

Meanwhile, Iran are hunting a third consecutive title and will have to overcome Chinese Taipei next in their quest, with head coach Forouzan Soleimani declining to speak to the media after the game.