The team plans to reconvene in Hanoi on September 24 before joining the first friendly game against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on October 8.

Vietnam will head for training in the Republic of Korea (RoK) from October 15 to 31 and play three friendly matches with local teams.

After returning from the RoK, the Vietnam Football Federation will arrange the national team to play a friendly match either on November 5 or 6 against a Southeast Asian team, which has been drawn in the same group with Vietnam at the AFF Cup.

Vietnam’s preparations for the regional championship will conclude with the sixth international friendly either on November 11 or 13.

The biennial tournament will run from November 19 to December 17, with eight teams competing according to a round robin format in two groups to decide the top two teams from each group for the semifinals.

The eight participating countries include the top seven finishers at the 2014 AFF Cup (Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore) and the winner of the qualification tournament, which will kick off on October 15 in Cambodia along with the participation of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Timor Leste.

At the previous competition two years ago, Vietnam were knocked out in the semifinals after losing 4-5 to Malaysia on aggregate, while Thailand were named the overall champions following their aggregate 4-3 victory against Malaysia in the finals.