VietNamNet Bridge – The draw for men’s football at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) 2011 on October 19 in Jakarta has created two opinions on the regional media.
According to the draw, Vietnam, one of the two seeds at the drawing ceremony, stays in group B with Myanmar, Laos, Philippines, Brunei and Timor Leste. The defending champion Malaysia selected as the other seed is in group A with hosts Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Cambodia.

Football competition is scheduled to start on November 3, and the final game on November 22 - the closing day of the tournament. Vietnam will take on the Philippines on the opening competition day Nov. 3

In the men’s futsal event with the participation of six national teams, Vietnam is drawn in group A with hosts Indonesia and the Philippines. Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar join group B.

The draw result is out of the expectation of everybody. In Group A, only Cambodia is weak. The remaining four teams are very strong: Indonesia is the host team, Malaysia is the defending champion, Thailand holds the highest number of SEa Games championship titles, Singapore is also strong.

Group B, meanwhile, consists of weak players like Brunei and East Timor. Laos and the Philippines recently emerged at some events but they are not the top teams in the region. Myanmar’s performance is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

Explaining about the difference between the two groups, Tri Goestoro, Secretary General of Indonesian Football Federation said that there are only two seeds – defending champion Malaysia and the runner-up – Vietnam so the draw is fair and pure.

The Jakarta Globe newspaper commented that the draw on Wednesday put the home team in not very good position.

“If Indonesia breaks its long drought in Southeast Asian Games football this year, it will have earned every ounce of gold. Wednesday’s draw for the group stage in November’s Games did the host nation few favors, placing Indonesia alongside defending champion Malaysia and regional powers Thailand and Singapore,” the newspaper wrote.

“With only the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals, coach Rahmad Darmawan’s squad faces a challenging road to bring Indonesia its first Games gold medal since 1991,” it commented.

Indonesia had what looked like an easy group at the 2009 Games in Vientiane, Laos, being drawn with Singapore, Burma and the host nation. Instead, a 2-2 draw with Singapore was followed by a stunning 2-0 loss to Laos and a 3-1 defeat against Burma, leaving the Merah Putih last in the group.

“Malaysian football has been on an upswing recently. After winning the 2009 Games, its senior team won the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup after beating Indonesia in the two-legged final,” it continued.

“Thailand, which has won Games gold 11 times since 1977, will likely send the U-23 team that lost 1-0 to Japan in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. Singapore has won bronze in the last two Games.”

Jakarta Globe revealed that Indonesian coach assistant Widodo Cahyono Putra was sent to Hanoi to scout future opponents at the VFF Cup. Vietnam, Malaysia and Burma will play in the tournament.

Meanwhile, the Straits Times of Singapore wrote: “Singapore's hopes of snagging its first ever SEA Games gold in football were dealt a serious blow on Wednesday, when the Republic drew the toughest group in the 11-nation tournament.”

Ligasingapure website confirmed: “Singapore has felt into one of the toughest group in SEA Games history”.

Thestar of Malaysia called Group A is the group of death and said that Malaysia is facing great challenge in defending its championship.

The NST described Group A as a “dangerous” group. Coach Ong Kim Swee of Malaysia told NST that his biggest worry happened when all strong teams are in one group.

The Bangkok Post of Thailand published an article entitled “Difficult draw for Thailand”. In this article, Thai football Chief Worawi Makudi said: “We are in a really tough group. I don't know why they did not have seeding in the draw. But we have to accept it and be well-prepared for the task."

At the same time, all teams in Group B were satisfied with the draw. Brunei and Filipino media said that their teams are lucky to enter an easy group.

Men’s football category will start from November 3, while the SEA Games 2011 will open on November 11. Vietnam’s 22-member U23 squad will be in Indonesia on October 30 or 31. The two top teams of each group will enter the semi-finals.

Only the final game will be held in Palembang, all others will take place in Jakarta.

Vietnam’s schedule at SEA Games:

16h00, 3/11: U23 Vietnam - U23 Philippines
19h00, 5/11: U23 Vietnam - U23 Myanmar
19h00, 9/11/2011: U23 Vietnam - U23 East Timor
19h00, 11/11/2011: U23 Vietnam - U23 Brunei
19h00, 17/11/2011: U23 Vietnam - U23 Laos

PV