Vietnam will compete with Thailand and Russia at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi. All matches of the Vietnamese team will take place at 7.30pm, with the match against Russia scheduled for September 5 and the match with Thailand on September 10.
This is the first time since 2019 that Thailand and Vietnam have had a friendly match. Back then, the Vietnamese team were invited to participate in the King's Cup of Thailand and won 1-0 in the group stage under the leadership of Korean coach Park Hang-seo.
FIFA and UEFA have banned the Russian team from participating in international tournaments, but it can still play friendlies. In 2024, the Russian team played two friendly matches, winning 4-0 against Serbia and 4-0 against Belarus. In 2023, Russia also played eight friendly matches and achieved many encouraging results.
Because the matches are held during the FIFA Days, both Vietnam and Thailand will field their strongest squads. The Thai team are expected to call back a series of players currently playing abroad to participate in the upcoming match in Hanoi.
Meanwhile, the Russian team are pegged as a much higher level opponent than the Vietnamese team, so this is an opportunity for Vietnam to hone their skills and gain more experience.
After the friendly match with Vietnam, Russia will travel to Thailand to play a friendly match on September 7.
The Vietnam team has scheduled friendly matches with India and Lebanon in October.
The upcoming international friendly matches will be a warm-up for the Vietnamese team to prepare for the ASEAN Cup 2024, which is scheduled to take place from November 23 to December 21.
According to the draw, Vietnam is in the same group as Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Laos. The team aim to take the championship.
