At home, Vietnam to take on Thailand in World Cup qualifier
Tuesday, October 13, 2015, 17:01 GMT+7
The Vietnamese men’s national football team will face Thailand in Hanoi on Tuesday evening in a Group F match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup’s Asian qualifying round.
After three games, Thailand are leading the group with seven points, followed by Iraq (five points), Vietnam (four points), and Taiwan (zero point).
The Thai visitors arrived in Hanoi on Sunday to prepare for the second leg game after beating Vietnam 1-0 in the first leg in Bangkok in May.
Vietnam beat Taiwan 2-1 last month and last week drew 1-1 against Iraq, who equalized from the penalty spot in the 6th and final minute of added time.
Thai coach Kiatisak Senamuang told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that his team will try to play attractive football in the Vietnamese capital to both find a win and impress local fans.
He added that he had warned his team about the flair of Vietnam’s experienced star striker Le Cong Vinh.
The Thais will try to ‘lock’ him down in the coming encounter, he said.
Kiatisak admitted that he was also impressed by the performance of Vietnamese goalkeeper Nguyen Manh, who blocked three or four clear chances from Iraq in the 1-1 draw in Hanoi.
The Vietnam-Thailand game will be aired live at 7:00 pm local time on the national broadcaster's VTV6 channel.
2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for Asia
Asian qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has four rounds.
The first is six home and away play-offs between the 12 bottom-ranked national teams, from 35th to 46th places, with the winners advancing to the second round.
Vietnam rank 19th in Asia and therefore began their World Cup campaign from the second round, with matches scheduled between May 24, 2015 and March 29, 2016.
Forty teams joining the second round are divided into eight groups to play home and away round robin matches. Eight group winners and the four best second-placed teams will be qualified for the third round.
Those 12 qualified teams are then pooled into two groups of six in the third round.
From the third round, another split home and away league, the two top teams from each group will qualify to play in the finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow.
The two third-placed teams will compete with other rivals in inter-continental play-offs for a possible fifth ticket for Asia to the FIFA World Cup finals.
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