VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese football team is hopeful that it will do well at the Al Saad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, although they are acknowledged as the underdogs in this 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup qualifying encounter.

Viet Nam, who hammered Macau 13-1 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, will compete against Qatar in the first leg of the second qualifying round on Saturday, before taking on the opponent at home on July 28.

"To have a chance to beat Qatar, we will have to do our best and must have positive results at Qatar," said Le Cong Vinh, the team's main striker.

With 46 spots behind Qatar on the world ranking table, the Middle Eastern team are favourites to win the match, Viet Nam still stands an opportunity.

"If we look at the two teams on the ranking table, there's a huge gap. Moreover, they had careful preparation in the build-up to the match with practice matches in Switzerland and Italy," said Vinh, who scored seven goals in two legs against Macau.

In the build-up, Qatar, which have many naturalised players, lost 0-3 to Swiss top-division side Lausanne, and 2-4 against Bayern Munich in Italy. They drew 2-2 with Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland before losing 1-2 to 147th-ranked India at home on Sunday.

"The coach and players respect Qatar but we do not fear them. We will try our utmost until the last minute," the 26-year-old striker said.

The most recently competitive match between Viet Nam and Qatar is when two teams ended in a 1-1 draw in the group B match at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, with Viet Nam being one of four co-host nations.

Viet Nam's ongoing premier football championship, V-League, has an advantage in that players are having a good feeling with the ball, but three successive matches within one week have affected the players' physical strength.

Another obvious disadvantage for Viet Nam is that Vietnamese players are slightly shorter and smaller than the opponent and have difficulties in mid-air tussles.

Viet Nam's German coach Falko Goetz, however, told the press on Monday that he had solutions to neutralise Qatar's strength and that players would play at 200 per cent of their ability.

In the training session on Tuesday at Thanh Long Sports Centre in HCM City, the team continued trying out tactics and improving the ability to handle the ball in front of the goal.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News