Vietnam in the same group with Cambodia in the final qualifying round of the Asian Cup
The two remaining opponents in Group C of the two Southeast Asian teams are Jordan and Afghanistan, according to the draw results last night, January 23.
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Vietnam team (white) has a chance to participate in the Asian Cup finals for the second time. |
This is a fairly easy group for coach Nguyen Huu Thang and his team. Except for Jordan, who is rated slightly higher, Cambodia and Afghanistan are both weaker than Vietnam.
Asian Football ConfederationAFC based on the FIFA rankings of January 2017 to divide the groups into 24 teams. Vietnam ranked 136th so was in group two with India, Palestine, Tajikistan, Hong Kong and Turkemistan.Group one includes Jordan, Oman, Philippines, Bahrain, Kyrgyzstan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Along with coach Huu Thang, who attended the draw ceremony in the UAE, former football star Nguyen Minh Phuong - a guest of AFC - was the one who drew the lot to put the Vietnamese team in group C.This result helps the Vietnamese team avoid some difficult teams in groups 3 and 4 such as Lebanon, Malaysia, Singapore or Myanmar.
Coach Huu Thang and his team will begin their campaign to qualify for the 2019 Asian Cup finals with a trip to Afghanistan on March 28, before returning home to host Jordan on June 13.
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Six groups in the final qualifying round of the 2019 Asian Cup. |
The final qualifying round is for the 24 teams that failed in the second stage. They are divided into six groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the finals in the UAE.
In history, the Vietnamese team once participated in the Asian Cup finals in 2007 as one of four co-host countries. The team was led by coach Alfred Riedl. After passing the group stage, the team lost to Iraq in the quarterfinals.
Twelve teams have qualified for the 2019 Asian Cup through the second qualifying round: UAE, Iran, Iraq, Thailand, China, South Korea, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria.
According to VNE