On the evening of May 4, the draw ceremony for the VCK Asian Cup 2019 group stage took place in Dubai, Vietnam with the D3 draw book being received and the group including representatives from Iran, Iraq and Yemen.
This is considered a rather difficult group for coach Park Hang-seo and his team to win a direct ticket to the round of 16. The Vietnamese team will probably compete for the 3rd team with the best record to enter the next round.
According to the draw results, Group A includes: UAE, Thailand, Bahrain, India. Group B includes Australia, Syria, Palestine, Jordan; Group C includes South Korea, China, Kyrgyzstan, and the Philippines.
The Vietnamese economy is in Group D with Iran, Iraq and Yemen, while Group E includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, the DPRK and Group F includes Japan, Uzbekistan, Oman, Turkmenistan
In Southeast Asia, the Vietnamese team is one of four representatives qualified to participate in the VCK Asian Cup 2019, along with Thailand, Australia and the Philippines.
In the Asian level, Iran and Iraq are always candidates for the championship. They are "on the same side" with Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia... the leading football regions in the continent. At the 2007 VCK Asian Cup in which Vietnam was the co- host, coach Alfred Riedl and his team passed the group stage and stopped after a complete loss to Iraq, the team later crowned.
The 2019 VCK Asian Cup will take place from January 5 to February 1, 2019 at 8 tournaments in 4 major cities of the UAE: Abu Dhabi (including 3 tournaments: Zayed Sports City, Mohammed Bin Zayed, Al Nahyan), Dubai (al- Maktoum tournament), Al Ain (Hazz Bin Zayed tournament, Khalifa Bin Zayed tournament) and Sharjah (Sharjah tournament).
