The national men’s football team will play a friendly match with Kyrgyzstan (pictured) on March 26 instead of Iraq. (Photo: baomoi.com) Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese national men’s football team will play afriendly match against Kyrgyzstan on March 26 instead of Iraq, the VietnamFootball Federation (VFF) has announced.
Vietnamwas supposed to face Iraq in the friendly match in preparation for thefixture with Malaysia in the Asian zone’s second qualifying round for the 2022World Cup on March 31, but the Iraq Football Association cancelled the matchbecause of fears relating to the COVID-19 epidemic.
VFFVice President Tran Quoc Tuan said the Kyrgyzstan Football Federation confirmedthat the national team would play Vietnam on schedule.
Atpresent, Kyrgyzstan are world No 96, while Vietnam are in 94th position.
Inthe qualifying round of the World Cup 2022, Kyrgyzstan are in Group F withJapan, Tajikistan, Myanmar and Mongolia.
Afterfive matches, Kyrgyzstan have seven points to rank second in the group, behindJapan who have 12 points.
Vietnamare currently at the top of group G in the World Cup qualifiers, followed byMalaysia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Indonesia.
Inthis match, head coach Park Hang-seo will not be able to sit on the touchline to direct his team because the Korean coach has been punished by theAsian Football Confederation (AFC).
TheAFC suspended him from four friendly matches after he received a red card inthe 2019 SEA Games men's football final in the Philippines last December forconfronting referees.
Theupcoming friendly will take place at Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City or GoDau Stadium in neighbouring Binh Duong province./.
VNA
