AFF Cup 2018 draw: Vietnam awaits the group of death!

The AFF Cup 2018 draw ceremony has received special attention from countries in the region. Coach Park Hang Seo will not attend this draw ceremony, Vietnam's representatives will be VFF Vice President Tran Quoc Tuan and VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh.

Because they are both seeded number 1 with Thailand, Vietnam and the defending champion team will definitely not be in the same group.

Before the draw, according to AFF, the Vietnamese team could fall into the group of death, but this is a group that will be very easy for coach Park Hang Seo and his team.

Specifically, according to the FIFA rankings in April 2018, the five teams Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, and Laos are the teams with the highest rankings in the seeding group of the tournament. Therefore, the AFF used the term group of death to describe this scenario of the draw.

If falling into this group, besides Indonesia, the remaining opponents (including the Philippines with many naturalized players) are not a concern for the Vietnamese team.

Of course, that's just a hypothesis, coach Park Hang Seo and his team need to be mentally prepared to face any opponent.

In a recent interview on the AFF website, striker Van Quyet also emphasized that. According to team captain Van Quyet, the Vietnamese team is aiming for the final match so they must overcome their opponents. However, the Vietnamese team will definitely focus on each match.

Also related to the AFF Cup 2018, according to the announcement of the AFF, the Vietnamese team has a quite favorable match schedule. Accordingly, the team in the number 1 seed group (including Vietnam and Thailand) will play the 2nd and 4th matches at their home ground. The 1st and 3rd matches, Vietnam will play on the away ground.

Thus, in the opening match, Vietnam will play away against the team in group 5 - the group with the lowest rating (Laos or the winner of the play-off match between Brunei and East Timor).

After that, Vietnam will return to My Dinh Stadium to welcome the team in group 2 (Indonesia/Malaysia). In the third round, Vietnam will visit the team in group 3 (Myanmar/Philippines) before returning to My Dinh to play the final match with the team in group 4 (Singapore/Cambodia).

The AFF Cup 2018 takes place from November 8 to December 15, with the participation of 10 teams divided into 2 groups. From the semi-finals, the teams still compete in the old format of home and away matches.

Video of Vietnam team winning the AFF Cup 2008: