4 months after closing 2025 with very good results – winning 7 matches and 1 "cold win" against Malaysia after the ruling related to violations regarding naturalized players, the Vietnamese national team started 2026 with a friendly match with the Bangladesh national team.
The match is scheduled for FIFA Days in March, taking place at 7:00 PM on March 26, at Hang Day Stadium (Hanoi).
With heroic soldiers and strong generals at the present time, meeting the opponent ranked 181st in the world is considered a good opportunity to prepare for the rematch against Malaysia 5 days later.
In the past, the Vietnamese team has met the Bangladesh team 2 times in 2001, within the framework of the World Cup qualifiers. Both matches took place in Saudi Arabia, with a 0-0 draw in the first leg and 4-0 for the "Golden Star Warriors" in the second leg.
In February of that year, the Bangladesh national team ranked 144th in the world, while the Vietnam national team ranked 99th. After a quarter of a century, Bangladesh football has plummeted, while the Vietnam national team is gradually returning to the Top 100 after a period of decline.
That means that there are many opinions and predictions about the possibility of a big win for coach Kim Sang-sik's team.
That possibility is very high, when the Vietnamese team plays at home with smooth machine operation conditions. However, it should also be remembered that this is the first time of many things, so depending on the experiments, the implementation of the Korean coach will lead to the match score.
The first time Hoang Hen was called up to the Vietnamese national team, as well as the first time Van Hau and Dinh Trong worked with Mr. Kim Sang-sik. And of course, Xuan Son's return after a long time.
If arranging the strongest squad in theory to play as a starter, there may be a few gears that are still out of sync, so it will depend a little on individual roles.
And in the case that coach Kim Sang-sik proceeds to assemble personnel according to each stage of the match, the connection may be better, but the effectiveness depends on the finishing ability and reaction of the opponent.
The Bangladesh team has a factor playing in England in Leicester City's colors, but this player only joined the team on Tuesday (March 24), so he needs time to adapt to the conditions in Hanoi.
Recently, the Bangladesh team has played 7 matches against weak opponents - Bhutan, Singapore, Nepal, Hong Kong (China), India - with only 2 wins (3 draws, 2 losses). They even faced difficulties when playing against domestic clubs in 2025 (won 1, drew 2, lost 1).
Therefore, the Vietnamese team can win without conceding a goal.
The problem is to detect and overcome the points that are not smooth to aim for the match against Malaysia, so the result is not too important.
2-0
