The story of India and Vietnam’s soccer rivalry goes lengthy again. Between the Nineteen Fifties and Seventies, India performed a number of tight matches in opposition to the erstwhile South Vietnam nationwide staff in a number of Merdeka Cups and Asian Games tournaments. But conferences have been uncommon within the twenty first century, and Saturday’s match in Nam Dinh will solely be the fourth time India will face unified Vietnam in senior internationals. All the earlier three had been additionally pleasant matches. In 2004, Vietnam nicked a 2-1 win within the LG Cup in Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2010, a Sunil Chhetri hat-trick powered India to a 3-1 pleasant win in Pune. The most up-to-date fixture got here in 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City when the hosts received 3-0 within the Hung Thinh Friendly Tournament.
The present Vietnam squad has 13 gamers who featured two years in the past, together with two goalscorers Nguyen Van Toan and Nguyen Van Quyet. 10 amongst India’s 23 made the journey to the south-east Asian nation in 2022 – Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Anwar Ali, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Chinglensana Singh Konsham, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Brandon Fernandes, Liston Colaco, Vikram Partap Singh, Amrinder Singh and Naorem Roshan Singh.
In some ways, the present state of affairs of Vietnam and India is comparable. Both are in a rebuilding section beneath a brand new head coach after their exit from the second spherical of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. While India missed out by two factors behind Kuwait, Vietnam completed Group F behind Iraq and Indonesia.
Vietnam, ranked 10 locations above India at 116th, appointed former South Korea worldwide Kim Sang-sik as the top coach in June, with whom they’ve a victory in opposition to Philippines and three defeats thus far. In the September window, they misplaced each matches in opposition to Russia (0-3) and Thailand (1-2) within the LPBank Cup pleasant match in Hanoi.
The 12 months 2024 hasn’t been the most effective for each India and Vietnam. The Blue Tigers are but to style victory since November 2023, and the Golden Star Warriors have 10 defeats of their final 11 matches. Both sides are determined for fulfillment and Manolo Marquez expects it to be an in depth contest.
“I feel Vietnam have good gamers. We are taking part in away from house. It might be tough for us, however equally for them too. We are trying bodily higher than prior to now, however we will nonetheless be higher. Our league began lower than a month in the past, and in the event you ask anybody concerned in skilled soccer, you realize that you simply’re not in your finest situation till you play a minimum of 10-12 matches within the season. But that does not matter as we’re taking part in now. Vietnam are in an identical state of affairs since their league has additionally accomplished 4 rounds,” mentioned the India head coach as quoted by the AIFF official web site.
Like India, Vietnam’s complete squad additionally performs of their home league – the V.League 1. It accommodates a mixture of senior and younger gamers. Some of the skilled names embrace veteran striker Nguyen Van Quyet, centre-back and captain Que Ngoc Hai, goalkeeper Dang Van Lam and midfielder Do Hung Dung. With 21 worldwide objectives, Nguyen Tien Linh is the best scorer within the present squad. Midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai spent a season within the French Ligue 2 with Pau FC a few years in the past.
The majority of the Vietnam gamers are under the age of 26, together with thrilling prospects like Nguyen Thanh Binh, Khuat Van Khang and Nguyen Thai Son. 20-year-old ahead Nguyen Dinh Bac is the youngest participant in Kim Sang-sik’s aspect and already has two objectives in 10 appearances for the Vietnam senior staff.
Vietnam will miss the providers of ahead Pham Tuan Hai and defender Ho Tan Tai as a result of accidents. Some common names like Do Duy Manh, Nguyen Tuan Anh and Phan Van Duc are additionally not a part of the squad for the pleasant in opposition to India.
The 27-member Vietnam squad have been coaching since October 5 on the Vietnam Youth Football Training Centre in Hanoi. They will play a follow match in opposition to reigning V.League champions Thep Xanh Nam Dinh FC on October 9 earlier than travelling to Nam Dinh on October 11, the eve of the match.
Manolo Marquez’s males held their first coaching session in Vietnam on Monday night on the Nam Dinh Sports Palace, a coaching floor located simply two kilometres from their staff lodge. On Tuesday morning, power and conditioning coach Jose Carlos Barroso oversaw a 45-minute gymnasium session. Marquez admitted that getting extra days to coach forward of the match might be useful for the staff. The Blue Tigers have deliberate to coach each night earlier than the matchday to try to gel as a lot as attainable and acquire rhythm, health and tactical information.
