20:00 July 27, Vietnam team - Man City: Taking Man City as inspiration

Can the Vietnamese team see the Manchester City stars as their inspiration, after the “mainly fun” friendly match at My Dinh tonight? And can Man City have a comfortable “practice match” against a much weaker opponent like the Vietnamese team?

Don't be so self-conscious, Mr. Miura and his students!

Level? Of course we are inferior. Transfer price? Of course we are only a small part of Man City. If we use statistics from the transfermarkt website, then midfielder Raheem Sterling alone is 30 times more expensive than the total transfer price of the Vietnam national team.

Consider Man City as… “the blue team”? A reporter used that word to the English representative in the press conference before the match, and received a burst of laughter, even though Man City is… “blue”, they wear blue shirts! But even though coach Toshiya Miura seemed very serious about letting the team practice behind closed doors, it still cannot help a completely weaker team “practice” anything for the match against Taiwan (China) in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers that will not take place until September. When asked if there was any strategy to make things difficult for Man City tonight, Mr. Miura smiled gently: “No strategy can surprise them.”

What will the Vietnamese team learn from the opportunity to compete with a strong opponent like Man City? Photo: Hieu Luong

So: Like the match against Arsenal 2 years ago (Vietnam team of coach Hoang Van Phuc lost 1-7), when Manh Dung's honorary goal still made My Dinh stadium explode, making Mr. Arsene Wenger surprised "I have never seen fans anywhere still happy like that even though the home team lost 1-7", it must be affirmed, Man City is higher than the "opponent", superior to the "blue team" of Vietnam team. They are the inspiration!

As some of our players have said, being able to compete with high-class colleagues has left them amazed. From that amazement, hopefully, the match will create new motivation for each player's career and some inspiration for the whole football industry.

Man City "promises" to respect the host

The visitors did not come to judge the superiority of a team that “honestly, I still do not know much about” as coach Pellegrini declared. Man City came only to play a promotional match before the new season: “We see this match as an opportunity to warm up before the season,” said Mr. Pellegrini. “The match is very important, because Vietnam is among the last opponents of the summer friendly tour. After meeting Stuttgart, Man City will enter the new season. We will play our best.”

The visitors will therefore experiment, and their stars like Joe Hart, David Silva or Raheem Sterling will start to please the Vietnamese audience. They are likely not to play the whole match. The injuries of Fabian Delph and Yaya Toure are enough to worry Mr. Pellegrini. Players on the transfer list like Stevan Jovetic or Edin Dzeko will also be used sparingly to avoid the risk of injury, affecting the summer trading plan. There is still room on the field for young players.

Man City will play with calculations, and those calculations will only make them more cautious. But hopefully, even if they use young players, they will still be loyal to the beautiful interwoven style of play to please the audience. Fans must know very well that this is not a football match for results, but commercial football. So, just like the match against Arsenal 2 years ago, fans will still cheer for Man City without hesitation.

After all, this is a precious performance by Joe Hart and David Silva. A rare opportunity for Vietnamese fans to see famous players playing at the peak of their careers. Who knows when they will be able to welcome them again. After retiring, they will probably only come back as Andy Cole, Alex Del Piero wearing shiny suits, coming to advertise shampoo or motorbikes rather than performing on the real football field.

So, enjoy. And hopefully, the party at My Dinh will please everyone.

According to Thethaovanhoa