AFF Cup 2018 Draw: Vietnam faces a tough group!

The draw for the 2018 AFF Cup has received special attention from countries in the region. Coach Park Hang Seo will not attend the draw; 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 along with Thailand, the Vietnamese team and the defending champions will definitely not be in the same group.

Before the draw, according to the AFF's assessment, the Vietnamese team could be drawn into a "group of death," but this would actually be a very easy group for Coach Park Hang Seo's team.

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

If Vietnam were drawn into this group, apart from Indonesia, the remaining opponents (including the Philippines, which has many naturalized players) would not pose a significant threat to the Vietnamese national 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 with the AFF website, striker Van Quyet also emphasized this point. According to captain Van Quyet, the Vietnamese team is aiming for the final and must overcome their opponents. However, he assured that the Vietnamese team will definitely play with focus in each match.

Also related to the 2018 AFF Cup, according to the AFF announcement, the Vietnamese national team has a fairly favorable schedule. Accordingly, the team in Group 1 (including Vietnam and Thailand) will play their second and fourth matches at home. Vietnam will play their first and third matches away from home.

Therefore, in their opening match, Vietnam will play away against a team in Group 5 – the lowest-ranked group (Laos or the winner of the play-off match between Brunei and East Timor).

After that, Vietnam will return to My Dinh Stadium to host the team from Group 2 (Indonesia/Malaysia). In the third match, Vietnam will play away against the team from Group 3 (Myanmar/Philippines) before returning to My Dinh Stadium to play the final match against the team from Group 4 (Singapore/Cambodia).

The AFF Cup 2018 took place from November 8th to December 15th, with 10 teams divided into 2 groups. From the semi-finals onwards, the teams still played according to the old format of home and away matches.

Video of the Vietnamese national team winning the AFF Cup 2008: