Men's football SEA Games 30: Vietnam in seed group number 3 with Myanmar
(Baonghean.vn) - The draw ceremony for the men's football tournament at the 30th SEA Games will take place on October 3rd and according to the seeding group division, there will not be an easy group for the teams.
Earlier in March, the Philippines announced the list of seed groups for the draw of the SEA Games later this year. Vietnam fell into group 4 with Laos, Timor Leste, Brunei and Cambodia. The host country explained that in the previous tournament, Vietnam was eliminated in the group stage with 10 points (winning against Timor Leste, Cambodia and the Philippines, drawing with Indonesia and losing heavily to Thailand) so it would be placed in the bottom group.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said that this was unreasonable because Singapore in the previous tournament also finished third in the group stage and was eliminated, one point less than Vietnam but was placed in Group 3. Therefore, the VFF and the Vietnam Olympic Committee (VOC) sent a petition to the Southeast Asian Games Federation and at the Executive Committee meeting held on April 22, this issue was resolved when Vietnam was promoted to Group 3 and Singapore was pushed down to Group 4.
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| U22 Vietnam won 2-0 against U22 China in preparation for the 30th SEA Games in the Philippines. Photo: Sina |
Group 1: Philippines, Thailand
Group 2: Malaysia, Indonesia
Group 3: Myanmar, Vietnam
Group 4: Singapore, Laos, Brunei, East Timor and Cambodia
Based on the division of seed groups, it can be seen that with 2 groups to be divided, no matter which group they fall into, it will be a challenge for all 6 teams in the first 3 seed groups. In the case of Singapore, a difficult opponent to defeat is in group 4, so if this team falls into any group, the competition in that group will be more intense.
At the 2019 SEA Games, men's football has 11 teams. Of which, the defending champion Thailand will be in the group of six teams, while the host Philippines will be in the group of five teams. The host country has also decided to allow teams to add 2 players over the age of U22, so the opportunity for Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong, Van Toan, Duy Manh... to have another chance to realize the dream of the first gold medal in men's football for Vietnam at the SEA Games is still there.