VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese Olympic team's coaching assistant Phan Thanh Hung believes his players can turn around their fortune at home, although he admits the chances are slim.

Uphill battle: The Vietnamese Olympic team train in Ha Noi in preparation for their Olympic qualifying round second leg match against Saudi Arabia today. (Photo: VNS)

In the first leg, Viet Nam lost 2-0 to Saudi Arabia after goals from Salman Al Faraj in the 43rd minute and its own goal in the stoppage time as Nguyen Van Hau turned the ball into his goal.

"It's not easy to turn around a two-goal margin because Saudi Arabia is a strong team. But we will fight until the end and hope magic will happen," said Hung, who is banking on support from home fans.

"Our players played well in Saudi Arabia and created some good opportunities but unfortunately the players could not convert," said Hung, who is also coaching the V-League club Ha Noi T&T.

To progress into the next round, Viet Nam will have to beat Saudi Arabia by a three-goal margin.

Saudi Arabia, however, have not taken anything for granted, although they took a strong lead into the second-leg game.

The Middle Eastern team arrived in Viet Nam just after the first-leg game so as to have a good preparation.

The organisers have issued four kinds of tickets for the match, which range from VND50,000 (US$2.5) to VND150,000 ($7.5) in price.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News