All you need to know about Vietnam football team

Vietnam will play against the Blue Tigers in an international friendly next week.

The Indian football team is back in action in the upcoming October international window when they face off against the Vietnam national team on 12 October. The Blue Tigers were initially set to participate in a Tri-Nation tournament before Lebanon pulling out forced the structure of the competition to be tweaked.

Now, this will be a one-off friendly match between India and Vietnam in what will also be the Blue Tigers’ first away match under Manolo Marquez. The Vietnam team is actually above India in the current FIFA World Rankings even irrespective of their relatively poor form in 2024.

Indeed, Vietnam have lost nine out of their 10 matches in this calendar year and that included a relatively poor outing in the AFC Asian Cup, where they lost all their group games.

Despite that, the Golden Star Warriors remain a formidable opponent for India as they possess some unpredictable and clinical players more than capable of turning results onto their heads.

Major Achievements

The Vietnam football team has always had to punch above their weight when it comes to international football, but have shown solid signs of improvement in the 21st century.

After having finished in fourth place in the 1956 and 1960 AFC Asian Cup (when they were still South Vietnam), the Golden Star Warriors reached the quarter-finals of the major continental competition in the 2007 and 2019 editions.

The year 2023 proved to be highly successful for the team as they reached as high as the 95th position in the FIFA rankings. The highest that they have reached in the FIFA rankings is the 94th place in 2020. While Vietnam has never been able to qualify for a FIFA World Cup edition, they did win the AFF Championship (or ASEAN Championship) in 2008 and 2018.

They have also won the Merdeka Tournament once (1966) and finished up as the runners-up in the King’s Cup twice in their history. A rather admirable achievement for the Golden Star Warriors is that they have defeated the Japan national team five times in their history too.

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Vietnam’s all-time greatest and current threats

The Golden Star Warriors might not have had that many players to have made a prominent impact in a major European or South American league, but they have had their case of impressive legends who made the country proud.

Lee Cong Vinh remains the Golden Star Warriors’ highest-scoring player in history, having scored 51 goals in 83 appearances for the national team. Vinh also holds the record for most appearances made for the Vietnam national team (83), having set the bar pretty high in his career.

Vietnamese forward Le Huynh Duc also had an impressive international career as he bagged 27 goals in only 51 appearances for the team. Duc also scored 79 goals in 126 league matches in his career and proved himself as a clinical forward.

But the Golden Star Warrior’s current forward Nguyen Tien Linh is making a darting ploy to become the national team’s most coveted forward. He has 21 goals in just 48 appearances for the Golden Star Warriors and has been performing well since making his debut for them in 2018.

Que Ngoc Hai has also been a devoted performer for the national team as he’s made 78 appearances for the Vietnam team and is aiming to set a new record for the highest number of matches played by a player on the international stage.

Vietnam’s rivalries and record against India

The Vietnam national team shares an intense sporting rivalry with Thailand and the two have been involved in some heated encounters right from the 1950s. Right from the time when the South Vietnam football team used to play, the two sides have faced each other 56 times in competitive football and the Golden Star Warriors have won on 23 occasions in that.

Vietnam won their first AFF Championship title by defeating Thailand in the final in the 2008 edition. The Golden Star Warriors have faced off against the Indian Football team 15 times in competitive football in their history, but their record isn’t one to be proud of.

In the 15 meetings, India have won on eight occasions, and Vietnam has just won on five occasions. The last time that Vietnam and India faced off was in September 2022 in an international friendly, but the Golden Star Warriors had the last laugh as they picked up a 3-0 win over the Blue Tigers.

India will aim to get their revenge over two years after that incident. They might face a struggling Vietnam team but will need to produce a clinical and prolific performance to get one over the Golden Star Warriors.

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