VFF Cup takes place too close to SEA Games 26
On October 12, in Hanoi, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) held a press conference to introduce the VFF International Football Tournament - Eximbank Cup 2011, a tournament considered an important step forward for the Vietnam U23 team before the 26th SEA Games.
The VFF Cup, which has been included in the competition system of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), will take place from October 19 to November 23 at My Dinh National Stadium - Hanoi with the participation of the following teams: U23 Malaysia - the current SEA Games champion, U23 Uzbekistan - the 2007 VFF Cup champion, U23 Myanmar and the host team U23 Vietnam.
Previously, VFF invited U23 Thailand and U23 Indonesia to participate, but these two teams refused.
Regarding the prize structure, the champion team will receive a Cup, a plaque and a prize of 25,000 USD, the runner-up team will receive a plaque and a prize of 10,000 USD, and the third-place team will receive a plaque and a prize of 5,000 USD. The teams will compete in a round-robin tournament, and if two teams have the same number of points, the additional index will be considered. The tournament will apply FIFA's competition rules and FIFA's additional rules in 2011.
The tournament organizers will sell tickets to watch matches of the VFF - Eximbank Cup 2011 with 4 denominations: 150,000 VND, 120,000 VND, 80,000 VND and 50,000 VND.
Before participating in this tournament, U23 Vietnam participated in the Ho Chi Minh City Open Football Tournament and although only won 3rd place, coach Falko Goetz and his team have somewhat created trust in the fans. According to Mr. Goetz, in this period, testing and accumulating experience are still the top goals, so the U23 team does not focus on achievements in friendly tournaments.
It is worth mentioning that the VFF Cup schedule is quite close to the SEA Games, so fans are worried that the players will lose strength, not to mention that if they are unfortunately injured, it will be a big disadvantage for the U23 team.
Remember, at the VFF Cup last year, striker Viet Thang was injured and was absent throughout the group stage of the AFF Cup 2010, greatly affecting the performance of the Vietnamese team at that time.
According to the plan, the U23 Vietnam team will leave for Indonesia to attend the 26th SEA Games from November 4th. However, because the host country recently changed the schedule, pushing the men's football competition 3 days earlier, the U23 Vietnam team, like other teams in the region, is currently in a passive position in its preparation plan.
According to VNA/Vietnam+
