India to contest Vietnam in October international friendly after Lebanon's withdrawl

India won’t be facing Lebanon after the latter withdrew from the initial tri-nation tournament.

The Indian senior men’s team will face Vietnam in a one-off friendly match on Saturday, October 12, 2024, following the withdrawal of Lebanon from the tri-nation friendly tournament. The match will be played at the Thiên Trường Stadium in Nam Định and will be designated as an official friendly, with points counting towards the FIFA Rankings.

As per the original schedule, India were supposed to face Vietnam on October 9 and Lebanon on October 12. After Lebanon’s withdrawal, the All India Football Federation requested the Vietnam Football Federation to reschedule the Vietnam-India match for October 12, which was accepted by the VFF.

According to a story by Vietnam Sports News, on 3rd October, “The Lebanon national football team has officially confirmed that they will be unable to travel to Vietnam for the scheduled FIFA Days matches in October 2024. In an official statement, they also extended their sincere apologies to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) for this unfortunate change.”

The Lebanese Football Association (LFA) has also suspended domestic football matches after Israel struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah targeted military facilities in northern Israel last month resulting in a hazardous crossfire and internal turmoil.

This friendly tournament would have been crucial for the Vietnam football team as they are preparing for the ASEAN championship scheduled for December this year. In this tournament, Vietnam will face Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

India will assemble in Kolkata on October 5 and have a training session on October 6. Manolo Márquez and his squad will travel to Vietnam on October 7, where they will continue their training.

Márquez announced a list of 26 probables on Monday. The final squad of 23 players will be announced prior to the team’s travel to Vietnam.

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