The friendly match with Bangladesh took place not long before the Vietnamese team entered an important confrontation with Malaysia in the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup. Therefore, the South Asian team brought in the force considered the strongest today to prepare for the match in Hanoi.
In the call-up list, Bangladesh has up to 7 players of Bangladeshi origin who grew up in developed football backgrounds such as England, Finland, USA, Canada and Denmark. This is considered an important force to help the national team improve the quality of the squad in recent years.
Head coach Javier Penato - who used to work at the Barcelona academy in the US and led the U19 Deportivo team before taking over in the Bangladesh national team - especially expects midfielder Hamza Choudhury. The 28-year-old player quickly made an impression when scoring 4 goals in 7 appearances for the Bangladesh national team.
Hamza Choudhury joined Leicester City at the age of 7 and grew up from the club's youth training system. In his career, this midfielder has 7 caps for the England U21 team and played in the Premier League. He and Leicester City won the FA Cup in the 2020-2021 season, the English Super Cup in 2021 and the Championship title in the 2023-2024 season.
After deciding to wear the Bangladesh national team jersey - his mother's homeland, Hamza Choudhury received a big welcome from fans in this country. In his first gathering with the national team in Dhaka a year ago, he was welcomed by thousands of fans at the airport.
Besides Choudhury, the Bangladesh national team also has many notable foreign-born players. Center-back Tariq Zaki grew up in the Finnish football environment and has played for the U16, U17, U18 and U19 youth teams of this country in the period 2016-2018.
Cuban midfielder Mitchell used to play in youth teams before signing a professional contract with Sunderland (England), while midfielder Shamit Shome had two appearances for the Canadian national team before expressing his desire to contribute to Bangladesh. In addition, the Bangladesh squad also includes players Zayyan Ahmed (USA), Kirmanee Shah (Canada) and Jamal Bhuyan (Denmark).
In terms of form, from 2025 to now, the Bangladesh team has achieved 2 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses in official matches. However, this team no longer has many opportunities to compete for a spot in the 2027 Asian Cup finals when it is currently ranked third in the group in the final qualifying round, 6 points behind the leading team Singapore after 5 matches.
In the final match taking place on March 31, Bangladesh will be guests at Singapore's stadium - the team that defeated them 2-1 in the first leg 9 months ago.
The friendly match with the Vietnamese national team is therefore considered an opportunity for both teams to review their forces and test tactics before important goals ahead.
