The organizing committee of the 2023 Asian Cup finals has officially announced the schedule and venues for the matches. The Vietnamese team is in Group D with Japan, Iraq and Indonesia.
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| Vietnam national team players present flowers to coach Philippe Troussier on Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20. (Source: VFF) |
Group D is considered a difficult group for coach Philippe Troussier and his team in the race to advance. Notably, Iraq and Indonesia are the two opposing teams of the Vietnamese team in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. According to the announcement, the Vietnamese team will play the opening match of Group D against the Japanese team at Al Thumama Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on January 14, 2024. Al Thumama Stadium is one of the 8 venues for the 2022 World Cup, with a unique design inspired by the traditional taqiyah hat of the host country Qatar. In the second match, the "Golden Star Warriors" will face the Indonesian team at 9:30 p.m. on January 19, 2024 at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium. This is considered the "easiest" match for coach Troussier and his team in this group. The Vietnamese team will conclude their journey in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup with a match against the Iraqi team at 6:30 p.m. on January 24, 2024 at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. The 2023 Asian Cup finals will take place in Qatar from January 12 to February 10, 2024, with the participation of the 24 best teams in Asia. According to the competition format, the 24 teams participating in the 2023 Asian Cup are divided into 6 groups, each group has 4 teams. The teams will play a round-robin to select the first, second and 4 third-placed teams with the best results in each group to enter the round of 16. With the Japanese and Iraqi teams being rated higher, the most realistic goal for the Vietnamese team is to beat Indonesia, hoping to become one of the 4 third-placed teams with the best results to qualify for the quarter-finals. While Vietnam and Indonesia are in the same group, two other representatives of Southeast Asian football are considered to have an easier time as they are in easier groups. The Malaysian team is in Group E with the teams of South Korea, Jordan and Bahrain. In this group, South Korea is a highly rated team and the ticket to the top of the group is unlikely to escape their hands. Therefore, Malaysia will compete for the ticket to the next round with two main opponents, Jordan and Bahrain. The match schedule of the Malaysian team is also quite favorable. They will play their first match against Jordan (January 15, 2024), followed by Bahrain (January 20, 2024) and South Korea (January 25, 2024). Meanwhile, the Thai team is in Group F with the presence of the teams of Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan and Oman. Except for Saudi Arabia showing superiority, the Thais can expect to finish second in the group when competing with not-so-strong opponents such as Kyrgyzstan or Oman. Thailand will begin their journey against Kyrgyzstan (January 16, 2024), then Oman (January 21, 2024) and end the group stage with a match against Saudi Arabia (January 25, 2024). In this tournament, Group A of the 2023 Asian Cup includes the host team Qatar, China, Tajikistan and Lebanon. Meanwhile, in Group B, Australia is the most highly rated team and their chances of advancing are very high. Along with Australia, this group also includes Uzbekistan, Syria and India. In Group C, Iran will certainly be the opponent that teams must be wary of. UAE will be the second notable name in the race for a direct ticket to the knockout round. Hong Kong (China) and Palestine are rated lower but will certainly make opponents cautious. With the current state of the groups, the race for the wild card to become one of the four best third-placed teams to advance to the quarter-finals will be very tense. The Vietnamese team that wants to continue will have to make the most of their opportunities.
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| Vietnam team's match schedule in Group D of the 2023 Asian Cup. (Source: VFF) |
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| Asian Cup 2023 draw results. |
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