Vietnam's national football team are attending the training camp for the final Asian qualifiers of World Cup 2022. The team have nearly three weeks for practicing and training before starting their competitions in Group B aiming for the final round.
Vietnam’s national football team are attending the training camp for the final Asian qualifiers of World Cup 2022. The team have nearly three weeks for practicing and training before starting their competitions in Group B aiming for the final round.
Reportedly, currently, most of the players called up to prepare for the 3rd Asian qualifiers of the 2022 World Cup have been present at Hanoi Youth Football Training Center. Currently, the players are performing technical practice under the watchful eye of assistant coach Lee Young-Jin because head coach Park Hang-Seo is undergoing medical quarantine period. If nothing changes, coach Park will take charge of the training sessions from August 11. Due to the complicated evolution of the current outbreak of COVID-19, the training session will take place in a closed process, which means the team will only travel between their accommodations and the training camp. Contacts are limited to certain people approved by VFF. According to the plan, the team will have one training session per day. All the members of the national football team will be also periodically taken samples for COVID-19 antigen rapid test and RT-PCR test.
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In the first days of the training camp, the coach board mostly instructed the players to perform light drills. The players who have still not recovered from injuries such as Van Hau, Tuan Anh, and Van Toan have practiced separately with doctors according to treatment protocols. Tuan Anh and Van Toan are expected to join team practice soon; meanwhile, Van Hau will need more time to recover and is likely not to be able to play the match with the Saudi Arabia in early September.
The fact that Vietnam progressed past the 2nd Asian qualifiers to book a place in the final qualifiers of the 2022 World Cup to compete with the giants of continental football, such as Japan, Australia, China, and Saudi Arabia, Oman, is considered a miracle. Overcoming these giants to progress to the final rounds seems to be unreachable for Vietnam because the team have never experienced such a big playground.
Although that is an extremely big dream, a specific goal is a need for Vietnam in the 3rd qualifiers. Getting past the qualifiers and advance to the final round is an extra difficult task of Vietnam’s national football team but not impossible. In football, anything can happen. For example, Denmark, who were considered underdogs in Euro 2020 and only won one match in the group stage, could run to the semifinals of Euro 2020; meanwhile, the giants such France, Germany, and Portugal were eliminated in the knockout stage. Vietnam are also the underdogs in Group B of the 3rd Asian qualifiers; however, miracles may happen if they can make good use of the opportunities in each match.
An Nhien
Translated by H.N
