Tonight at 9 PM Vietnam time, the Vietnamese Futsal team will face Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals of the 2024 AFC Futsal Championship at Bangkok Arena, Thailand. This pivotal match will be updated by Vietnam Sports News.
The stakes are high, as the winner of this match secures a spot in the upcoming Futsal World Cup scheduled for September. Uzbekistan, a powerhouse in Asian futsal, is favored to win. They have been the runners-up four times—in 2001, 2006, 2010, and 2016—and have secured the third spot five other times in 2005, 2007, 2014, 2018, and 2022, consistently proving their dominance in the sport.
Despite the strong opposition, Diego Giustozzi, the Argentine coach of the Vietnamese team, remains optimistic. He acknowledges Uzbekistan’s strength and their status as championship contenders, praising their technique, fitness, and tactical prowess. However, Giustozzi also points out that the Vietnamese team often excels against open, attacking teams like Thailand and Uzbekistan. He expressed confidence in his team’s abilities and their potential to make it to the World Cup for the third time by defeating Uzbekistan.
An additional layer of complexity is added by the fact that Uzbekistan is the host of the 2024 World Cup. If Uzbekistan reaches the semifinals, an extra World Cup slot will become available for Asian teams, providing a safety net for Vietnam should they lose in the quarterfinals.
If Vietnam were to lose against Uzbekistan, they would still have a chance to qualify for the World Cup through a playoff system. They would need to face and defeat the loser of the quarterfinal match between Iran and Kyrgyzstan in the first playoff round. If successful, Vietnam would then compete against one of the losers from the matches involving Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Thailand, or Iraq in a second playoff round.
Tonight’s match is not just a test of skill and strategy but also a mental battle, as Vietnam aims to overcome the odds and secure a historic victory on their path to the World Cup.
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