The friendly football tournament hosted by Vietnam will take place at Thong Nhat Stadium from September 21 to 27 at Thong Nhat Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City. According to the schedule, the Vietnam team will meet Singapore (September 21) and India (September 27). In between is the match between Singapore and India on the evening of September 24.
The champion team will receive 30,000 USD, the runner-up will receive 20,000 USD and the third-place team will receive 10,000 USD. This tournament is part of the FIFA Days period, so the results will affect the position of the teams. In addition, the players' scoring achievements will also be recognized by the World Football Federation (FIFA).
We are very happy and grateful to have had the opportunity to meet the players and check where the Indian team is at the moment. We all hope to play two friendly matches. This will be a really exciting trip, especially after we qualified for the 2023 Asian Cup last June in Kolkata, said Indian coach Igor Stimac.
The upcoming two matches at Thong Nhat Stadium will mark the first appearance of the "Green Tigers" (Indian team nickname), since June 2022. At that time, Igor Stimac's team played in the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers at home, where they beat Cambodia 2-0, Afghanistan 2-1 and Hong Kong 4-0.
Compared to the opponents in the qualifying round, the Vietnamese team (ranked 97th in the world) and Singapore (ranked 159) in the world are rated higher. Therefore, this will be a very good opportunity for the Indian team (104) to accumulate more experience, review the squad... According to the schedule, the Indian team will visit Vietnam on September 20 with the strongest possible squad.
Meanwhile, the Singapore team said that the friendly tournament in Ho Chi Minh City is an opportunity for him to prepare for the AFF Cup 2022, where they are in the same group as the Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia and Laos teams. I am looking for and evaluating players who can play in many different positions. Because the AFF Cup matches take place with a schedule of 4 matches/11 days in the group stage, I have to consider the risk of injuries, free kicks and other weaknesses.
This means that players who can play in many different positions will be very useful, bringing tactical flexibility, as well as increasing the level of competition for the team, said Singapore coach Takayuki Nishigaya.
Mr. Nishiyaga, a Japanese player, took over the position of Singapore national team coach from April 2022. He led the Singapore team in 4 matches with the result of losing to Kuwait 0-2, losing to Kyrgyzstan 1-2, losing to Tajikistan 0-1 and winning Myanmar 6-2. Meeting 2 teams with higher qualifications at Thong Nhat Stadium is a good opportunity for Mr. Nishiyaga to review the squad towards the AFF Cup 2022.
The two matches during the FIFA Days in September are a good opportunity for us to know how far Singapore can compete, know what to do to move forward. The only way to improve the team's level is to compete with stronger teams, so the two matches against India and the Vietnamese team are very useful for us," said Nishiyaga.
