HCMC - In their opener, the Vietnamese national football team will meet the Kuwaiti U23s in the 1,000th Thang Long-Hanoi Cup Football Cup 2010 next Monday in Hanoi.
The Australian U23s will meet North Korea in the tournament’s opening game.
Big crowds are expected to come and watch the North Korean team and the U23 teams of Australia and Kuwait who are sending over their strongest squads for the round-robin tournament.
The friendly tournament, which is part of activities to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long –Hanoi, is taking place from next Monday to Friday at My Dinh National Stadium in the capital.
According to the organizers, the North Korean team will send a 23-member squad, including 14 football players who attended the World Cup 2010 in South Africa in June.
The North Korean team will feature eight key players including goalie Ri Myong-guk; defenders Pak Chol-jin, Nam Song-chol; midfielders Kim Yong-jun and Pak Nam-chol, Kim Kum Il and Mun In-guk; and striker Choe Kum-chol.
The Vietnamese team will also be fielding their strongest squad in hopes of keeping the cup at home. However, coach Henrique Calisto’s star striker Le Cong Vinh, who has just returned from Portugal from a ligament operation, will not attend the tournament.
Moreover, former national striker Pham Van Quyen has lost his chance with the national squad because of injury. Quyen needs an operation on his right ankle with an extended rest for recovery, according to doctors.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has received FIFA’s permission to field former national striker and his teammate midfielder Le Van Truong again in international competition. The two players were involved in a match-fixing scandal at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games.
Last month, VFF asked FIFA to repeal its suspension of Quyen and Truong so that they could participate in the Thang Long-Hanoi Cup and the AFF Cup tournaments in late 2010. Both players completed their national suspension penalty in January 2009 and returned to their V-League clubs.
The champion team will receive a prize worth US$20,000, and the second and the third places will be awarded prizes valued at US$10,000 and US$5,000, respectively.
Tickets for the event are being distributed through the Vietnam Football Development JS Company. The tickets are VND120,000, VND100,000, VND80,000, and VND40,000.
All six matches from the cup will be aired live on Vietnam Television’s VTV2 channel and other local stations.
In related news, 30 players of the Vietnamese Olympic football team have been called up to prepare for the International Football Tournament - Millennium Thang Long - Hanoi Cup in HCMC.
The team, coached by Phan Thanh Hung, includes the best young players on V-League teams.
The team will compete with the Olympic teams from Iran, Malaysia and Singapore in the round-robin tournament, which will be held at Thong Nhat Stadium in HCMC from September 28 to October 2.
The Vietnamese players will limber up with the Cambodian national squad in two friendly matches to be held at Thanh Long and Thong Nhat stadiums on September 18 and 21 before taking part in the friendly tournament.
It is expected that the Vietnamese Olympic team will get more experience before joining the 16th ASIAD Sports Festival in China from November 7 to 26.
Thang Long-Hanoi Cup schedule:
September 20 North Korea vs U23 Australia (4:45 p.m.)
Vietnam vs U23 Kuwait (7:00 p.m.)
September 22
U23 Kuwait vs North Korea (5:00 p.m.)
U23 Australia – Vietnam (7:00 p.m.)
September 24
U23 Kuwait vs U23 Australia (5:00 p.m.)
Vietnam vs North Korea (7:00 p.m.)
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