Titleholders Vietnam to take on strong opponents at AFF Cup 2011

December 02, 2010 | 07:09

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AFF Cup defending champions Vietnam will attend this year tournament with lot of pressures as they are in a group with very strong teams.

Vietnamese striker Quang Hai (left, in white) vies against a Singapore defender in an AFF Cup 2008 game (Photo: Dung Phuong)

Vietnam will take on Myanmar, Singapore and Philippines respectively in Group B as they will defend their title at home. Analysts said the titleholders will almost achieve a place in the semi-final round if they defeat Myanmar in their first group match on December 2.

They will only have to take on the group’s weakest team Philippines in the next match and compete with Singapore for the first place, which will help them avoid archrival Thailand in the next ground.

Otherwise, Vietnam will likely to bow out of the tournament as they have to beat Singapore, who often held Vietnam with powerful defensive line in previous matches.

Myanmar is a young team as their players are around 25 year olds, but analysts said playing as an underdog in the games with the home side and Singapore will give them no pressure.

Vietnam’s national team suffered a big loss this year as star striker Le Cong Vinh will miss out because of knee injury. Singapore meanwhile will attend this year AFF Cup without midfielder Shi Jiayi.

Analysts also said playing at My Dinh Stadium is not quite an advantage for the home side as they won only three out of 20 games in the last three years.

Group B fixtures:

December 2: Singapore vs. Philippines (5pm)
           Vietnam vs. Myanmar (7h30 pm)
December 4: Singapore vs. Myanmar (5pm)
           Vietnam vs. Philippines (7h30 pm)
December 6: Singapore vs. Vietnam (7h30 pm)
           Philippines vs. Myanmar (7h30 pm)

SGGP

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