Before the first leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 semi-final, Singaporean media made assessments of the strength of the Vietnamese team.
Notably, The Straits Times (Singapore) published an article with the content: "In theory, the confrontation between Vietnam and Singapore seems unequal."
This newspaper commented: "The Vietnamese team is a strong candidate for the championship and brings an excellent squad to the tournament, including naturalized striker Nguyen Xuan Son. This player scored 2 goals and had 2 assists on his debut day."
The Strait Times newspaper commented that the Singapore team has no choice but to defeat the Vietnamese team in the first leg of the semi-final at home. However, this is not an easy task for coach Tsutomu Ogura and his team.
In terms of position on the FIFA rankings, the Vietnamese team is 46 places above Singapore. In addition, all indicators of squad strength or history of confrontation are leaning towards the Vietnamese team.
Singapore will play at Jalan Besar Stadium, a stadium with artificial turf. However, during the 2024 ASEAN Cup group stage, Singapore played at a national stadium with natural grass. Therefore, the team from the Lion Island also needs more time to get used to the artificial turf. Meanwhile, Vietnam played a match on this field when they traveled to the Philippines in the group stage.
The first leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 semi-final between Vietnam and Singapore will take place at 8:00 p.m. tonight (December 26) at Jalan Besar Stadium.
