Vietnam to play World Cup qualifiers behind closed doors

In the first match on June 7, Vietnam will face Indonesia at Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Later, on June 11, also at Al Maktoum, the Golden Dragons will take on Malaysia. Vietnam’s last game, with UAE, on June 15 will be hosted at Zabeel Stadium, Dubai.

All games will take place at 8:45 p.m. (local time), or 11:45 p.m. Hanoi time.

The organizer of the matches chose to host the games at night in order to avoid the scorching weather in UAE, which could hit 40 degrees Celsius during daytime.

The Vietnam national team will get a month to prepare for their World Cup qualifiers. They will train in south central Binh Dinh Province and Hanoi before flying to UAE on May 26. All members of the national team received their Covid-19 jab in April. However, they will still have to take Covid-19 tests 72 hours before flying to UAE.

On May 31, the team will play a friendly with Jordan in UAE to test the squad.

Vietnam are topping group G of the World Cup Asian qualifiers with 11 points after five games. The Golden Dragons will enter the final round of qualifiers for the first time in history if they score at least six points from three games.