Việt Nam will play friendly matches with Thailand and Russia in September. — Photo kenh14.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will play friendly matches with Thailand and Russia on the occasion of FIFA Days in September, the Việt Nam Football Federation (VFF) has announced.

Việt Nam will compete with Thailand and Russia at the Mỹ Đình National Stadium in Hà Nội. All matches of the Vietnamese team will take place at 7.30pm, with the match against Russia scheduled for September 5 and the match with Thailand on September 10.

This is the first time since 2019 that Thailand and Việt Nam have had a friendly match. Back then, the Vietnamese team were invited to participate in the King's Cup of Thailand and won 1-0 in the group stage under the leadership of South Korean coach Park Hang-seo.

FIFA and UEFA have banned the Russian team from participating in international tournaments, but it can still play friendlies. In 2024, the Russian team played two friendly matches, winning 4-0 against Serbia and 4-0 against Belarus. In 2023, Russia also played eight friendly matches and achieved many encouraging results.

Because the matches are held during the FIFA Days, both Việt Nam and Thailand will field their strongest squads. The Thai team are expected to call back a series of players currently playing abroad to participate in the upcoming match in Hà Nội.

Meanwhile, the Russian team are pegged as a much higher level opponent than the Vietnamese team, so this is an opportunity for Việt Nam to hone their skills and gain more experience.

After the friendly match with Việt Nam, Russia will travel to Thailand to play a friendly match on September 7.

The Việt Nam team has scheduled friendly matches with India and Lebanon in October.

The upcoming international friendly matches will be a warm-up for the Vietnamese team to prepare for the ASEAN Cup 2024, which is scheduled to take place from November 23 to December 21. According to the draw, Việt Nam is in the same group as Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Laos. The team aim to take the championship. VNS