Vietnam will host Japan at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi at 7:00 pm on Thursday (Vietnam time) in the final round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers.

The game will be broadcast live on Vietnam Television’s VTV6 and streaming service FPT Play. 

Officials expect around 12,000 fans to show up for the match.

Thursday’s match will be the Golden Stars’ fifth game in the final round of play. 

It follows four straight losses, with the most recent being a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Oman. 

Vietnam currently sit at the bottom of Group B with zero points.

Meanwhile, Japan boast six points in the tournament thanks to an even win-loss split in their last four games, including losses to both Oman and Saudi Arabia.

A victory over Vietnam in Thursday’s match is a must for the Samurai Blue to keep their hope alive for winning a ticket to the World Cup finals in Qatar next year.

Though many consider Vietnam to be the underdogs in their game against Japan, some pundits believe Japan’s short preparation time and tired players, many of whom have come back from their clubs in Europe barely in time for the showdown, could give the Golden Stars a bit of an edge.  

In addition to the Vietnam - Japan matchup, several other teams will go head-to-head on Thursday, including Australia and Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the UAE, Lebanon and Iran, China and Oman, and Iraq and Syria.  

The final round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers is contested by two groups of six teams.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for next year’s tournament while the third-place teams will play for a spot via an inter-continental play-off.

This is the first time Vietnam have made it this far in the World Cup qualifiers.

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