The competition is fierce
Vietnam National Team will have 3 decisive matches with Indonesia National Team in the early stages of 2024. The two sides will meet in the group stage of the 2024 Asian Cup at 9:30 p.m. on January 19. After that, the Vietnam national team will go to Indonesia as a guest on March 21 and return to welcome the opponent on March 26 as part of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Thus, the series of 3 matches between Vietnam National Team and Indonesian National Team will take place on both neutral field, away field, and home field. More importantly, these are all key matches for the Vietnam national team in the 2024 Asian Cup and 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Vietnam and Indonesia will face each other continuously in 2023
At the 2024 Asian Cup, Indonesia is considered a direct competitor with Vietnam to become 4/6 teams ranked third with the best results. The goal of both sides in the match on January 19 is to “must win”.
The nature of the rivalry with Indonesia National Team makes Vietnam National Team’s group in the 2024 Asian Cup even more “heavy”, when the two remaining opponents in Group D are Japan Team and Iraq Team.
At the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, coach Philippe Troussier frankly stated that Indonesia is the main opponent of Vietnam to compete for second place in the group and the ticket to continue to the third qualifying round.
Even the matches between Vietnam and Indonesia in 2024 are unlikely to stop at 3. Because, the two sides can meet in the 2024 AFF Cup scheduled to take place from November 23 to December 21. .
Match schedule of Vietnam national team in Asian Cup 2024. (Photo: VFF)
The “fate” of coaches who participated in the World Cup
The two World Cup coaches working in Southeast Asia are Mr. Philippe Troussier of the Vietnam National Team and Mr. Shin Tae-yong of the Indonesian National Team. They are also caught up in the spiral of “debt” between Vietnamese football and Indonesian football.
Coach Philippe Troussier once received “bitter fruit” at SEA Games 32, when U22 Vietnam lost to U22 Indonesia in a superior position and could not defend the gold medal. However, U22 Indonesia in this tournament is led by coach Indra Sjafri instead of coach Shin Tae-yong.
The French coach has faced a wave of criticism after the defeat at SEA Games 32. And if the Vietnamese team does not have good results in the upcoming 3 confrontations with the Indonesian team, coach Philippe Troussier will surely receive the storm. criticize.
Coach Troussier of Vietnam national team. (Photo: Duy Duc)
Coach Shin Tae-yong of the Indonesian national team. (Photo: WS)
Coach Shin Tae-yong has had a collection of defeats against Vietnamese football from the national team level to the U23 level, from the SEA Games to the AFF Cup and World Cup qualifiers. Except for the match where U20 Vietnam lost 2-3 to U20 Indonesia in the 2023 Asian U23 qualifiers, Vietnamese football always “sows sorrow” for the Korean military leader.
It is expected that coach Shin Tae-yong will only stick with Indonesian football until June 2024. Thus, the upcoming series of 3 matches is the last chance for Mr. Shin to hope to leave some mark on the record against Vietnamese football.
After beautiful memories at the World Cup, one of coach Philippe Troussier and coach Shin Tae-yong will have sad memories in the “fateful” series of matches between Vietnam and Indonesia.
