Vietnam and Iraq settled for a 1-1 draw during their 2018 World Cup qualifiers match last year. (Photo : Getty Images)
Struggling national teams Vietnam (1-2-1, 4 points) and Chinese Taipei (0-5-0, 0 points) are scheduled to face one another for an AFC 2018 World Cup qualifying tournament Group F encounter at the Mỹ Đình National Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam on March 24th, Thursday.
The two teams have met initially during matchday 4 at the Taipei Municipal Stadium with Vietnam squeaking out a close 2-1 road victory for their only win of the tourney so far.
Vietnam was trounced by group-leading Thailand, 0-3, in their most recent match of the said competitions on Oct. 13th of last year also at their home field of Mỹ Đình National Stadium, as per the Bangkok Post.
An own goal by Golden Stars center back Đinh Tiến Thành at the 51st minute is included in the Thais' three-goal haul with winger Kroekrit Thaweekarn and midfielder Theerathon Bunmathan netting their own goals at the 29th and 70th minutes respectively for the visitors.
The loss was the second one in the group stage for head coach Nguyễn Hữu Thắng's side with their first one also against the War Elephants during the opening day.
Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei has not able to experience a victory in all of their five games so far in the tournament.
Their most recent WC qualifying match was a 0-2 loss to Iraq on Nov. 17th of last year at the National Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, via Soccerway.
Head coach Chen Kuei-jen's boys were not able to recover from the quick opening goal of young Iraqi winger Dhurgham Ismail at the 19th minute before veteran striker Younis Mahmoud sealed the game with another goal late in the second half, five minutes before the full time whistle.
Whatever is the result of this game, both Vietnam and Chinese Taipei will no longer advance in the third round of the qualifiers and will just settle for a spot in the Asian Cup qualifying third round competitions.
The predicted result is a 3-1 victory for Vietnam.
Vietnam starting lineup (5-3-2 formation): Nguyên Mạnh; D. Tiến Thành, Thanh Hiền, Tiến Duy, Tiến Dũng, Đình Đồng; Thành Lương, Duy Mạnh, Lê Công Vinh; Hồng Quân, Anh Đức
Chinese Taipei starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Lu; Chen Y., Lin, Chen T., Wang; Chen P., Chiang, Wen, Yen; Chen H., Wu
