Vietnam unbeaten in 22 consecutive friendly matches

The victory over Syria helped the Vietnamese team extend its nine-year unbeaten streak, in friendly matches or unofficial tournaments.

The last time Vietnam lost a friendly match was 1-3 to Palestine on September 11, 2014 at My Dinh Stadium, under coach Toshiya Miura. Since then, the team has been unbeaten in 22 unofficial matches, including 15 wins and 7 draws. In other words, Vietnam has not lost a single friendly match under Nguyen Huu Thang and Park Hang-seo.

Striker Pham Tuan Hai celebrates scoring the goal that helped Vietnam defeat Syria at Thien Truong Stadium, Nam Dinh Province on the evening of June 20, 2023. Photo: Giang Huy

However, during this period, Vietnam mainly faced teams outside the world's Top 100. The only three opponents in the Top 100 were Syria, Jordan and Curacao. Of these, Vietnam won two matches against Syria, drew with Jordan and Curacao - the opponent the team later lost to in the penalty shootout.

Vietnam also extended their unbeaten streak at home in all competitions to 10 matches, including 9 wins . Vietnam's only draw during this period was a 2-2 draw against Thailand in the first leg of the 2022 AFF Cup final. The last time Vietnam lost at home was a 0-1 defeat to Oman at My Dinh on March 24, 2022, in the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia.

On the evening of June 20, striker Pham Tuan Hai scored the only goal from a long-range shot to help Vietnam beat Syria 1-0 at Thien Truong Stadium (Nam Dinh). This was the 10th time Vietnam had won against a West Asian opponent in 43 matches. Syria was also the third West Asian opponent that Vietnam had bettered, after Bahrain and Yemen.

This was Vietnam's second match under coach Philippe Troussier, and the team won both 1-0. The Frenchman became the second foreign coach in Vietnamese football to win both of his first two matches, after Toshiya Miura. In Miura's first two matches, Vietnam beat Myanmar and Hong Kong, then lost to Palestine in the aforementioned match. If Vietnam wins the next match, Troussier will become the first coach to win all three of his first matches with the national team.

The team will regroup in September, expected to play a few friendly matches. In November, Troussier and his team will begin playing in the second qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup in Asia. In January 2024, the team will participate in the Asian Cup in Qatar.

Xuan Binh

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