Favorite opponent
The draw of luck put the Vietnamese team in the same group B with Laos at the AFF Cup 2024. More interestingly, the "Golden Star Warriors" once again met this opponent on the opening day of the tournament.
In the past, the Vietnam team has met Laos in the opening match 3 times in the history of the tournament. And all 3 times, Vietnam passed the group stage, semi-finals and won the right to the final match.
In 1998, the Vietnam team started the tournament with a 4-1 victory over Laos thanks to goals from Hong Son, Van Sy and Huynh Duc at Hang Day Stadium. The smooth result created favorable momentum for coach Alfred Riedl's team to advance in the next rounds of the AFF Cup, most impressively a 3-0 victory over Thailand, which was very strong at that time. Unfortunately, in the final match, Vietnam lost 0-1 to Singapore.
It was not until… 20 years later that the Vietnam team met Laos again in the opening match. Although they had to play away in Vientiane, with a combat-ready force that had proven itself at the U23 Asia and ASIAD 2018, Cong Phuong and his teammates won easily with a score of 3-0. The show of power against Laos was just the start of Vietnam's impressive journey to win the championship that year. Throughout the group stage, coach Park Hang-seo and his team kept a clean sheet. Against the Philippines and Malaysia in the semi-finals and finals, the Vietnam team won convincingly to take the Gold Cup.
In 2022, the Vietnam team will meet Laos again in the opening match of the AFF Cup. At that time, Vietnam will still be led by Mr. Park Hang-seo. With the ambition to reclaim the championship from Thailand, Vietnam is determined to seek victory in each match and once again defeat Laos before advancing to the final. Tien Linh, Hung Dung, Tan Tai, Van Hau, Van Toan, and Van Thanh in turn helped the home team win 6-0 against the team from the land of a million elephants. After that, the Vietnam team entered the final of the AFF Cup 2022 but lost to Thailand with a total score of 3-2 after two home and away matches.
Expect more of a win
According to the history of 13 official confrontations between Vietnam and Laos, the representative of the land of a million elephants has never won against Vietnam. Notably, the only match in which Laos held the "Golden Star Warriors" to a draw took place in 1996. That was also the first time the two teams competed against each other. In the remaining 12 matches, Vietnam won all, scoring 52 goals and conceding only 2.
According to statistics in 13 official matches, the Vietnamese team won 11 times. Only in the remaining 2 matches in 1997 and 1998 did the "Golden Star Warriors" let Laos score. In the AFF Cup arena alone, except for the draw in 1996, Vietnam defeated Laos in 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2018, 2021 and 2022.
The above positive historical value creates a great spiritual leverage for the Vietnam team towards the away match against Laos on December 9. Aiming to reach the final for the 5th time in history, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team have had the most serious and thorough preparation in the tournament. The optimism is even greater when the Vietnam team won 3 practice matches against Ulsan Citizen, Daegu FC and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. In addition, before finalizing the list of participants, Vietnam also has the service of Nguyen Xuan Son - the best striker in V.League in the last 3 seasons.
On the contrary, the Lao team did not have proper preparation for the AFF Cup 2024. It has been more than a year since the last international match in October 2023 that the Lao team has returned to the international competition cycle. The new head coach Ha Hyeok Jun has also only taken over the team for 4 months. The Lao team participating in the tournament is mostly young players with little experience in top-level competition.
The opportunity for Vietnam to have another victory against Laos in the opening match of the AFF Cup 2024 is very bright.
