Coach Troussier finalized the squad to play against the Philippines

(PLO) – On November 13, the Vietnamese team took an early flight to the Philippines to prepare carefully for the opening match of the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup with the goal of winning first or second place in Group F to advance.

Coach Philippe Troussier gave his players the final practice session, the third day to get used to the artificial turf surface at the VFF Youth Training Center, before leaving for the Philippines to play the opening match of the second qualifying round of the World Cup. gender. In the past, Philippine football has never been a big opponent of the Vietnam (VN) team, but they have the advantage of playing on the familiar artificial turf field Rizal Memorial on November 16.

Mr. Troussier hesitated choose squad

The French teacher called together 32 players from the beginning of November to prepare for the big game in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, the earliest compared to the opponents in Group F including the Philippines, Iraq, and Indonesia. Half a month of valuable training will help coach Troussier shorten the list of 28 players to go to Manila this morning (November 13).

After early eliminating right-back Truong Tien Anh, coach Troussier initially planned to cross out five more names, but at the last moment he wanted to keep two more backup players, fearing injury and ensuring division of the training squad. Most recently, midfielder Que Ngoc Hai has just recovered, after the B. Binh Duong player was injured on the China tour and had to sit out two of the club’s matches in the V-League arena.

Domestic championships were suspended early, giving Mr. Troussier more time to take care of his students and complete the squad. Most players have had many opportunities to score points in the eyes of the French teacher, after six friendly matches at home and away, against gradually stronger opponents. The choice of personnel also causes many interesting considerations for coach Troussier. And during the last three days of practice in the Philippines, he decided to eliminate five players to officially finalize the list of 23 faces that he considered the best for the match against the host.

The Vietnamese team will be closed for practice in three days on foreign land and with the goal of passing the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, the conquest of coach Troussier and his team is most easily seen as a light opponent of the Philippines even though they have to play. on unpleasant artificial turf.

History supports the Vietnamese team

Old general Van Quyet is the author of the only goal against the Philippine team late last year in a friendly match at My Dinh Stadium, before the 2022 AFF Cup.

In the 2010 and 2012 AFF Cup seasons, the Vietnamese team lost to the Philippines 0-2 and 0-1 in the group stage. But in the following Southeast Asian seasons, the Vietnamese warriors defeated this familiar opponent in the AFF Cup 2014 (score 3-1), two semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2018 (score 2-1), yet including the friendly match won 4-2 at the end of 2018.

The Philippine team also does not have outstanding achievements like the Vietnamese team, such as under Coach Park Hang-seo, reaching the semi-finals of ASIAD 2018, quarter-finals of Asian Cup 2019 or the final qualifying round of World Cup 2022, marks that his successor Troussier affirmed that it was not easy to win.

Coach Michael Weiss and his team are ranked 138th in the world, far behind the 94th-ranked Vietnamese team. They also only have four days to gather for the match against Vietnam. The biggest strength in the Philippine team is the policy of naturalizing foreign soldiers, which helps the German teacher have more than half of the squad of players playing in lower leagues in Europe.

Similarly, the 27 Indonesian players also have many players of foreign origin – something coach Shin Tae-yong affirmed helps their local colleagues become more confident. The Korean teacher chose the number of 70%-80% chance for Indonesia to advance to Group F. However, Indonesian football is ranked lowest at 145th in the world. And in four years working here, Mr. Shin has never had any significant achievements. The Indonesian team lost to Vietnam in the first and second legs of the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup.

The biggest team in the group of coach Troussier and his team is definitely Iraq, currently ranked 68th in the world. Coach Jesus Casas has many students playing in European tournaments, notably Zidane Iqbal, a former Man United player who plays for Utrecht Club in the Dutch national championship. The Iraqi team has won three matches, drawn one match against Vietnam and most recently only won 3-2 at the 2019 Asian Cup.

DANG HUY – JAPANESE BROTHER