Identifying Vietnam's opponents at King's Cup 2019
(Baonghean.vn) - After many efforts to find a worthy opponent to participate in the annual King's Cup international friendly tournament organized by Thailand. The Curacao team from North - Central America and the Caribbean is the final name after 2 guest teams, Vietnam and India, and the host team participating in this year's tournament.
The King's Cup was first held in 1968 and is a playground for 4 national teams. At the King's Cup 2019, the 4 participating teams will compete in pairs. The 2 winning teams will compete for the championship, the 2 losing teams will meet in the 3rd place match. The opponent in the first match of the Vietnam team will be Curacao (ranked 82nd on the FIFA rankings), the host Thailand will face the Indian team.
Historically, the Vietnamese team participated in the King's Cup in 2006 and won second place after losing to host Thailand with a score of 1-3 in the final match.
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4 official teams participating in King's Cup 2019. Photo: FAT |
To prepare for this year's tournament, FAT had previously sent two invitations to the 2018 AFF Cup champion to attend the 2019 King's Cup, but VFF refused both times.
The initial reason was that the King's Cup was scheduled to be held in March, coinciding with the time of the "super cup" match between the Vietnamese and Korean teams. After that, the FAT postponed the tournament to June and the VFF agreed to the goodwill invitation from the Football Association of Thailand.
The 2019 King's Cup will feature four teams: Vietnam, Curacao, India and host Thailand. The tournament will take place from June 5 to 8, coinciding with FIFA's international match schedule (FIFA day).
Therefore, in addition to serving professional work, the results of the Vietnamese team at the King's Cup will also directly affect the ranking on the FIFA rankings.
Accordingly, the FIFA rankings are used as the basis for seeding and group drawing in official national team tournaments of FIFA and AFC (Asian Football Confederation).
King's Cup 2019 specific schedule:
16:30 June 5: Vietnam vs Curacao
19:30 June 5: Thailand vs India
16:30 June 8: Third Place Match - Loser of Match 1 vs Loser of Match 2
19:30 June 8: Final - Winner of match 1 vs winner of match 2
