VietNamNet Bridge - Until November 6, the Brazilian football club Gremio did not confirm whether they would play a friendly game with the Vietnamese national team or not.




The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has decided to cancel the game because not much time is left to prepare for the AFF Cup.

Previously, it was said that the Vietnamese team would not play the match with Gremio because of a disagreement with the organizing board of BTV Cup. However, VFF’s Secretary General Ngo Le Bang denied this and said VFF was still waiting for the final answer of the Brazilian club.

On November 6, Bang said Gremio could not fix the time for the friendly so VFF had to cancel the game. The plan for a friendly against a Japanese FC has also failed. VFF and coach Phan Thanh Hung have planed a friendly against a local team, perhaps Khanh Hoa FC, which is trained by the assistant coach of the national team Hoang Anh Tuan.

"According to the plan, the national team will have at least one more friendly match before the AFF Cup. It is no matter to play with a foreign or a domestic team, though a foreign team is better. However, it is more important for the national squad to perfect its line-up, tactics and avoid injury," Bang said.

Many friendly matches have been canceled, from the games with Singapore to India, Cameroon and now Gremio.

According to Bang, it is difficult to invite foreign teams to Vietnam for friendly matches because they are busy at their national leagues. Although Bang said the team still has good preparation, the matches against Indonesia, Malaysia and the VFF Cup helped Coach Phan Thanh Hung improve a lot of weaknesses of his squad.

The national team will group up again on November 8 in Nha Trang and will have a friendly against Khanh Hoa FC on November 15. After that Coach Phan Thanh Hung will finalize the list of players before heading to Thailand on November 20 for the most important event of the year, the AFF Cup.

Nam Nguyen