Iran Newspaper: 'Vietnamese Football Progresses Slowly'
Tarafdari newspaper does not rate Vietnam highly - the team that took more than 11 years to return to the Asian Cup finals.
"Vietnamese football is developing, but at a slow pace," wrote journalist Hamed Ismaili. "In 2007, they co-hosted the Asian Cup. Vietnam beat the UAE and drew with Qatar to reach the quarter-finals, before losing to Iraq. A year later, they won the AFF Cup for the first time. But it took Vietnam 10 years to repeat the feat at the AFF Cup with the recent championship."
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Vietnam is training in Doha (Qatar) to prepare for the Asian Cup. Photo:VFF. |
"The AFF Cup champions have many high-level players. They are all young and are the foundation for Vietnam's personnel change. However, experts still have reason to doubt Vietnam's ability to make an impression at the upcoming Asian Cup in the UAE," Ismaili commented.
Vietnam has not faced Iran at the national team level. But at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon (South Korea), the Vietnamese Olympic team surprisingly defeated the Iranian Olympic team with a score of 4-1. The Iranian team at that time had three players who will participate in the 2019 Asian Cup, namely midfielder Morteza Pouraliganji, defender Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Hossein Kanaanizadegan.
"Vietnam has never been considered the number one team in Southeast Asia compared to Thailand. But they are believing in coach Park Hang-seo - who is famous throughout Vietnam at the moment. Success at the Asian Cup will ensure Mr. Park's future in Vietnam," journalist Ismaili predicted.
Iran will open their Asian Cup campaign against Yemen on January 7. They will then face Vietnam and Iraq.
