Right winger Nguyen Vu Phong (sitting) suffers a knee injury during a practice session Sunday at Hanoi’s My Dinh Stadium, as the team prepares for a match against Lebanon on Wednesday.

The national team will play Lebanon on Wednesday but coach Henrique Calisto has a couple of handicaps going into the match.

Calisto and his assistants have been very busy with the team in practice, so the onus has been on the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) for collecting information about the rivals.

Over the past few days, VFF General Secretary Tran Quoc Tuan has been with the team for almost every training session to encourage the players.

However, that is not enough. Tuan should have ordered his staff to search for necessary information about the rivals and provide it to Calisto.

“I have no information about Lebanon. Not knowing much about the rivals is a big problem for Vietnam,” the Portuguese tactician told Thanh Nien after Sunday’s training session.

Another problem for the national team is that at least two of their best midfielders, Tan Tai and Vu Phong, will not be at their best if they have to play in the match against Lebanon in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Sunday morning, Tai went to the hospital for an X-ray of his heel instead of training with his teammates. When he came back, he was wearing a jumper and slippers instead of a shirt and shoes.

“It hurts when I move my foot. I can’t walk very well let alone run,” Tai said.

After looking at the x-ray carefully, Dr. Nguyen Trong Hien said, “Tai doesn’t have a fracture but it is not a minor injury.”

“We will give him the best treatment for his injury. Tai needs to take special medicines and physiotherapy. We will try our best to help him play,” Hien said.

Half-way through Sunday’s training session, right winger Phong suffered an injury when he suddenly lay on the field with his hands on his knees.

Calisto, team deputy manager Nguyen Lan Trung and two doctors came running towards Phong.

Phong couldn’t stand up by himself and the goalkeeper helped him to the sidelines. Doctor Hien said Phong would need to take medicine for his knee injury.

Sunday Calisto had his players do basic exercises.

“Coach Calisto wants us to do simple exercises to recover from the hard-fought AFF Suzuki Cup tournament last month,” a player said.

Sunday afternoon Calisto said he had allowed striker Phan Thanh Binh to go back to his home in Dong Thap Province to attend to some personal problems.

Binh will miss both the upcoming matches - against Lebanon on Wednesday and against China on Sunday.

Reported by Lan Phuong