Vietnam to play friendly football tournament with Thailand, Russia

Vietnam are scheduled to meet Russia on Sept. 5 and Thailand on Sept. 10 in My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi. The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) organized the tournament to help the national team prepare for the ASEAN Cup (formerly AFF Cup) taking place from Nov. 23 to Dec. 21.

Russia stand 33rd on FIFA ranking, many places above Vietnam (115th) and Thailand (101st).

Vietnam and Thailand are archrivals in Southeast Asia. Under coach Park Hang-seo, Vietnam turned Thailand into the former champion of both the AFF Cup and SEA Games, and became the sole representative of Southeast Asia in the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup.

However, at the end of coach Park's reign and the stint of his successor Philippe Troussier, Thailand regained their number one position in Southeast Asia by winning the AFF Cup two consecutive times in 2020 and 2022.

At the 2024 ASEAN Cup, Vietnam are in the same group with Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Laos while Thailand are grouped with Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia. The remaining spot in the group will be decided by a playoff between Brunei and Timor Leste.

VFF appointed coach Kim Sang-sik in May after an unsuccessful run with coach Troussier which saw Vietnam suffering repeated losses at regional tournaments and dropping out of the FIFA's top 100. Kim was assigned to take Vietnam to the final of the 2024 ASEAN Cup.

The South Korean coach had two matches with the team so far, where they lost 1-3 to Iraq and beat Philippines 3-2 in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.