Vietnam team to face Thailand early in AFF Cup?
The fateful match between Vietnam and Thailand may come as early as the group stage of the 2016 Southeast Asian Football Championship, according to the draw results tonight, August 2.
The AFF Cup 2016 draw ceremony takes place at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Yangon, Myanmar.
Due to poor performance at the 2014 AFF Cup (stopping at the semi-finals), the Vietnamese team was only placed in Group Three by the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) before the draw. This group also includes Singapore.
Meanwhile, Pot One consists of co-hosts Myanmar and the Philippines. Pot Two consists of defending champions Thailand and runner-up Malaysia. Pot Four consists of Indonesia and the first-round qualifier winner.
According to the draw, each team in each group will be divided into two groups A and B. Therefore, the Vietnamese team could be in the group with Thailand. Even the scenario of a group of death could come to coach Nguyen Huu Thang and his team, if the draw puts them in the group with host Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.
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In 2015, the Vietnamese team met Thailand in two matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, and lost both matches with scores of 0-1 and 0-3. |
Captain Le Cong Vinh cannot attend, so today coach Nguyen Huu Thang will go to Myanmar with midfielder Ngo Hoang Thinh, VFF Vice President Tran Quoc Tuan and VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh to attend this event.
The 2016 AFF Cup will take place from November 19 to December 17, 2016 in the Philippines and Myanmar. In addition to the seven teams that have been directly admitted to the group stage, the remaining four teams, including Cambodia, Laos, East Timor and Brunei, will compete in the preliminary round in Cambodia (from October 15 to 21) to select the team with the best results to enter the group stage.
In the group stage, teams compete in a round robin to select the top two teams from each group to enter the semi-finals. The semi-finals and finals are played on a home and away format.
According to VNE
