Viet Nam will face minnows Chinese
Macau in their first game of the World Cup 2014 Asia Zone qualifiers following
yesterday’s draw in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Easy draw: National team striker Nguyen Viet Thang (right) vies for the ball against defender Le Phuoc Tu during a national football team training session in Ha Noi. Viet Nam will play Macau in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. (Photo: VNS)

Macau
are ranked 181st in the FIFA rankings. Their best result was a 3-2 win over
Cambodia one month ago in Phnom Penh, with the contribution of several
‘imported’ players from Portugal.

Viet
Nam, who are 134th in the rankings, are not expected to meet with any
difficulties against Macau.

“It
plays to our advantage that we face Macau in the first round because they are
not very strong,” said Viet Nam Football Federation’s Deputy Chairman Pham Ngoc
Vien.

“If we
defeat Macau, we will meet Qatar in the second round. They are 90th in the world
and have made good progress recently. But Viet Nam should always strive to play
their best and set a target of winning against every team we play,” Vien said.

National
team members also shared Vien’s point.

“We
don’t know much about Macau but I don’t think that they will cause us any
problems. Problems will come in the second round where we will play Qatar who
are a strong team with experienced players,” said winger Le Tan Tai.

Teammate
Le Phuoc Tu added that Macau were a weak team and it would be an easy game for
Viet Nam. Qatar would be a tougher game because of their dangerous forward line.
“However, both sides share the same problem, in that our head coaches have
resigned,” Tu said.

Viet Nam
have lost 0-4 twice and drawn 1-1 with Qatar in the past.

The
first qualifier will be held over two legs, on June 29 and July 3, with the
second round scheduled for July 23 and 28.

In other
competitions, Viet Nam’s U-23 team received a bye to the second round of Olympic
qualifiers where they will play powerful Saudi Arabia on June 19 and 23.

“Saudi
Arabia are an Asian powerhouse and they will create a lot of problems for us.
Our players should not be nervous, but should just play their own game. Remember
we surprised Asia four years ago by getting through to the third qualifying
round,” Vien said.

The
draws for the 2012 Asian U-16 and U-19 football championships’ qualifying round
were also held on Wednesday.

In the
U16 competition, Viet Nam have been drawn in Group F along with South Korea,
Japan, Chinese Taipei, Laos and Cambodia.

Meanwhile the U19 team have an easier task against Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and
defending champions North Korea.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News