Vietnam team had dinner and watched the strongest opponent in the group beat Indonesia

The Vietnamese team carefully examines its opponent Iraq. (Source: VFF)

After the victory over the Philippines last night (November 16), the time when the Vietnamese team had dinner was also the time when the match between the two remaining opponents in the group took place. The Iraqi team showed the strength of the strongest team in the group when defeating Indonesia with a score of 5-1.

Coach Philippe Troussier and his players watched the match closely on television. The players ate while watching their next opponent. On November 21, the Vietnamese team will face Iraq at My Dinh Stadium.

Iraq's disadvantage is that the team has to travel a long distance right after the match to get to Hanoi. This afternoon (November 17), the away team will arrive in Vietnam.

Vietnam team beat Philippines in the opening match. (Photo: VFF)

Meanwhile, Coach Troussier decided to let the Vietnamese team stay in Manila (Philippines) for one more day. The reason is that the flight from the Philippines to Vietnam only has two time slots: morning and evening. To optimize the physical recovery process for his players, Coach Troussier chose the evening flight so that the players would have more time to rest and could go to the training ground the next morning upon returning to Hanoi.

Vietnam kicked off their 2026 World Cup Asian qualifiers with a 2-0 away win over the Philippines. Nguyen Van Toan and Nguyen Dinh Bac scored for Vietnam.

President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Tran Quoc Tuan called to congratulate coach Philippe Troussier and his team and announced the good news. With the first 3 points in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Vietnam Football Federation's Standing Committee awarded the team 1 billion VND.

Han Phong

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