Hanoi Striker Nguyen Cong Phuong suffered a relapse of his injury and was absent from the Vietnam national team's training session this afternoon, March 17.
Doctors said Cong Phuong has an ankle problem. Coach Philippe Troussier has given the Yokohama FC striker a break from training. The possibility of Cong Phuong being on the list to go to Indonesia for the first leg of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers is very slim.
Cong Phuong during a training session with the Vietnam team on March 15. Photo: Lam Thoa
Cong Phuong is a key player under coach Park Hang-so, in the squad that reached the final of the 2028 U23 Asian Cup, the semi-finals of the 2018 Asian Games and won the 2018 AFF Cup.
After Coach Troussier took over, Cong Phuong was called up and scored in a friendly match against Palestine at Thien Truong Stadium on September 11, 2023. However, he was not allowed to participate in the 2023 Asian Cup. According to Coach Troussier's assessment at that time, Cong Phuong was not physically fit because he was not allowed to play in any matches by Yokohama Club.
After the meeting in Japan in February, plus Pham Tuan Hai's injury, coach Troussier decided to call Cong Phuong back for the two upcoming matches with Indonesia.
When the team gathered, Cong Phuong was arranged to practice with the U23 team. Yesterday, he was brought up to the national team to practice with the key players.
On March 19, the team will travel to Indonesia to prepare for the match against the host team two days later at Bung Karno Stadium. The two teams will play again in the second leg at My Dinh Stadium on March 26.
In Group F, Vietnam is currently second with three points, after winning 2-0 in the Philippines and losing 0-1 to Iraq in the November 2023 match. Indonesia has the same point as the Philippines but is at the bottom of the table due to inferior sub-index.
Currently, Vietnam does not have the best squad due to injuries. Besides Tuan Hai, coach Troussier certainly does not have the services of key players such as goalkeeper Dang Van Lam, full-back Doan Van Hau, center-back Que Ngoc Hai, midfielder Nguyen Tuan Anh or Phan Van Duc. On the contrary, Indonesia has promptly naturalized a series of players of archipelago origin but were born and raised, playing football in Europe.
In terms of head-to-head, Vietnam was unbeaten for eight consecutive years against Indonesia, but lost 0-1 at the Asian Cup in January.
Lam Thoa
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