Laos Team - Vietnam Team: Class difference!

Although playing at home, the Laos team's chances of winning points are very slim. The main reason is that the level difference between the two teams is still too large. OnFIFA Rankings(November 2024), Vietnam Team is ranked 116th, while Laos Team is ranked 186th.

Coming to the ASEAN Cup 2024, the Laos team did not bring prominent faces such as the striker duo Billy Ketkeophomphone and Soukaphone Vongchiengkham. Instead, they used mostly domestic players, most of whom are still quite unknown. Notably, more than half of the squad (15/26 players) are under the age of 23, showing that this team is in the "rejuvenation" phase.

However, under the guidance of new coach Ha Hyeok-jun, Captain Bounphachan Bounkong and his teammates have made significant progress recently. The 1-1 draw with the Thai team on November 17 is the clearest proof.

Historically, the Lao team has never won against the Vietnamese team in an official tournament. After 13 matches, the Lao team lost 12 matches and only drew once, in the group stage of the 1996 AFF Cup (score 1-1). These statistics show that the Lao team has not yet reached the level of the Vietnamese team.

At the AFF Cup 2022, the two teams were also in the same group. At that time, the Vietnamese team won an overwhelming victory over the Lao team with a score of 6-0 right in Vientiane. It is likely that in the upcoming match, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team will continue to have an easy victory.

In Group B of the ASEAN Cup 2024, in addition to the Vietnam Team and the Laos Team, there are also the Indonesia Team, the Philippines Team and the Myanmar Team. The teams will compete in a round robin to select the two teams with the best results to enter the semi-finals. This makes the Laos Team's chances of advancing very difficult.

Thanh Hung