Advantages and disadvantages
After 21 years, the Vietnamese men's football team will face a team from Europe again. At 8:00 p.m. on September 5, at My Dinh Stadium, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team will meet the Russian team , currently ranked 33rd in the world.
Comparing the rankings between the two teams on the FIFA rankings, of course, the Vietnamese team is rated lower in the opening match of the LPBank Cup friendly tournament. However, playing at My Dinh Stadium is an advantage for the Vietnamese team. With the Korean coach, the Vietnamese team broke the losing streak of 2 consecutive matches at My Dinh Stadium under the predecessor Philippe Troussier with a 3-2 victory over the Philippines in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia.
And despite only having a few days to prepare for this match, coach Kim Sang-sik has become more familiar with his players after a few months in Vietnam. In the past few days, he must have understood more about Que Ngoc Hai and Nguyen Thanh Chung - two factors in the defense that can be very important when facing a quality opponent from Europe.
The disadvantage is that at this time, the new season in V.League has not started yet, so it is difficult to confirm the players' peak performance. Therefore, using an experienced squad is a reasonable choice. The problem is how the 47-year-old coach will arrange the tactical squad, what strategies will he have for counter-attacks and attack organization?
What are the chances for the Vietnam team?
As mentioned above, the Russian team is ranked 33rd in the world, but looking at the squad coach Valery Karpin brought to Vietnam, there are quite a few changes compared to their last friendly match last June - a 4-0 win over Belarus. He only kept a few experienced players - 4 players from 29 to 32 years old, while there are 15 players aged 24 and under.
Except for the goalkeeper position, there are 4 players who have never played for the national team. There are 14 players who have played for the team but the number of appearances is less than 10. More or less, that shows that the Russian team participating in this tournament is young and does not have much experience. Only 2 players who are playing abroad have been called up: goalkeeper Matvei Safonov (Paris St Germain) and midfielder Daler Kuzaev (Le Havre) - the player with the most appearances for the national team (50) among the 29 players who came to Vietnam.
It should be noted that Russia still has some important players playing abroad, such as the Miranchuk twins Aleksei and Anton, Aleksander Golovin, and some other experienced personnel. When using a really strong lineup, Russia beat Cuba 8-0 in November 2023, and beat Serbia 4-0 in March this year.
The team from Europe has little time to get used to and adapt to the weather conditions in Hanoi, which is also an advantage for the Vietnamese team, but that does not mean being subjective. Because it cannot be denied that even for young players, Russian football still maintains the tradition of training top-notch football skills so that they are given the opportunity to be called up to the national team - 2 19-year-old players were called up this time, including midfielder Sergei Pinyaev, who has made 6 appearances and scored 1 goal - against the Iraqi team in a 2-0 friendly win in March 2023.
The technical playing style of the Russian players will need to be observed and become an important learning experience for Quang Hai, Tuan Anh, Hoang Duc and their teammates, even though they are the opponents' seniors.
With reasonable tactics and concentration, the Vietnamese team can have a good performance in front of the home audience.
