These days, in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, the players of Vietnam's national football team are practicing actively to prepare their physical fitness and spirit for their opening match in the final Asian qualifiers of World Cup 2022 against Saudi Arabia.
These days, in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, the players of Vietnam’s national football team are practicing actively to prepare their physical fitness and spirit for their opening match in the final Asian qualifiers of World Cup 2022 against Saudi Arabia.
The first match in the challenging journey of Vietnam in the final Asian qualifiers takes place at around 1am on September 3 (Vietnam time). Vietnamese players arrived in Riyadh on August 29 and made a light practice on the same day to get used to the new environment. Time zone difference and extremely hot weather are the big challenges for Vietnam players. High temperature in Riyadh has affected the physical conditions of the players.
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Saudi Arabia is highly rated, along with Japan and Australia, as one of the three bright candidates in Group B for the tickets to the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals. Vietnam have never played Saudi Arabia before and haven’t had many information about this team. Therefore, it is expected to be an extremely tough task for Vietnam to get points in this match. Saudi Arabia have participated in FIFA World Cup five times; Confederations Cup four times (their best achievement was second place in 1992); Asian Cup ten times (three times crowned champions).
In the final Asian qualifiers, Saudi Arabia have a strong attacking line with Salem Al-Dawsari, who scored five goals in the second qualifiers. Besides, they have good strikers namely Salman Al Faraj, Fahad Al Muwallad, and Saleh Al Sheri. Saudi Arabia have proved to be superior to Vietnam in terms of achievements, international competition experience, physical fitness, etc. In addition, Saudi Arabia play at their home ground, which can bring them home advantage.
Vietnamese football supporters are pinning their hope on the brilliant strategy of head coach Park Hang-seo and competing spirit of the players. “The coach board and players have carefully prepared for the opening match. Personally, I will try to give 100% in the match towards a good result,” said midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai.
An Nhien
Translated by H.N
