Vietnam’s futsal team have arrived in Cali, Colombia, commencing their campaign to make it into the last 16 of the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup, where they are one of 23 teams qualifying from six separate continental competitions.

The world’s largest futsal event, scheduled to take place from September 10 to October 1, will feature six groups of four teams, with Vietnam drawn in Group C alongside Italy, Paraguay and Guatemala.

Another Southeast Asian representative, Thailand joins Russia, Egypt and Cuba in Group B, while Group A is made up of Colombia, Portugal, Uzbekistan and Panama.

Group D sees the presence of Ukraine, Brazil, Mozambique and Australia, while Argentina, Kazakhstan, Solomon Islands and Costa Rica will compete in Group E; Group F consists of Iran, Spain, Morocco and Azerbaijan.

The teams will play in a round-robin tournament, with the top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advancing into round 16.

Vietnam is set to face Guatemala in their opener on September 12 before taking on Paraguay and Italy on September 15 and 17, respectively.

Italy is considered Vietnam’s toughest opponent in the group stage. The European team settled for a bronze medal twice in a row in 2008 and 2012.

Despite Vietnam being a World Cup newbie, both head of the Vietnam delegation Tran Anh Tu and coach Bruno Garcia Formoso are confident that their players will continue to repeat the same surprise as made in their quarterfinal victory against three-time Asian champions Japan at the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship in February.

Nhan Dan