Vietnam's national football team begin their journey to regain the championship title that they lost two years ago with their opening match at AFF Cup 2022 against Laos on the field of Laos on December 21.
Vietnam’s national football team begin their journey to regain the championship title that they lost two years ago with their opening match at AFF Cup 2022 against Laos on the field of Laos on December 21.
Vietnam are in Group B with Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Laos. Group A includes Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Brunei. Group B can be considered as an easy group for Vietnam; they are rated higher than other teams in the group. Playing against Laos, who are regarded as the weakest team in the group, in the opening match provides coach Park Hang Seo and his players an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming match against Malaysia and Myanmar at My Dinh Stadium (scheduled for December 27 and January 3, 2023).
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Vietnam set the target to win the championship at AFF Cup 2022. This is the last tournament of coach Park Hang Seo with Vietnam’s national football team. The Korean coach must want to have a good memory before saying goodbye to the team and Vietnamese supporters. Thailand are the most likely candidate for Group A winner. Vietnam need to pass the group stage at the first place in order to have advantage in the next round.
In AFF Cup 2020, Vietnam displayed impressive performances in the group stage, winning all matches and conceding no goal. However, they couldn’t overcome Indonesia in the fight for the group first place. Vietnam faced rival Thailand in the semi final and became former champions after conceding a 0-2 defeat for first and return legs. Thailand after that beat Indonesia in the final match to claim the championship. Although Thailand don’t seem to be as strong as they were in the previous editions of AFF Cup, it is good for Vietnam to avoid a tough rival in the journey to regain the title.
The line-up of Vietnam in AFF Cup 2022 includes familiar names such as Van Lam, Tien Dung, Thanh Chung, Van Hau, Duy Manh, Que Ngoc Hai, Hong Duy, Van Duc, Hung Dung, Tien Linh, Van Toan, and Quang Hai, who has returned from Pau FC. Besides, coach Park Hang Seo had also called up some young players. These players are the ones who played well in V.League 2022 and some friendly tournaments prior to AFF Cup.
A.N
Translated by H.N
