Vietnam vs Hong Kong

Lach Tray Stadium forms the backdrop for an all-Asian international exhibition match between Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Vietnam embark on a recovery mission following a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Thailand in the 2022 AFF Championship grand final in January, seeking amends after failing to land a first piece of silverware since 2018. But it’s worth noting that before slumping to a 1-0 second-leg loss at Thailand, Vietnam had gone unbeaten in 13 consecutive international matches (W9, D4), netting 2+ goals on nine occasions. Scoring hasn’t been their only virtue, especially at home. Philippe Troussier’s men have registered an eye-catching four shutouts in their last five home friendlies (W5). As such, they’ll be confident about extending a three-game unbeaten H2H run against Hong Kong (W2, D1). Since both wins in that sequence featured an identical 3-1 scoreline, high scoring could be the theme in Hai Phong.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong fought back from an early deficit to hold Singapore to a 1-1 draw at the turn of the calendar year but slipped to a disheartening 2-0 defeat at Malaysia in the aftermath. Having lost five of their last eight internationals (W1, D2), the visitors head into this fixture as underdogs, searching for their first H2H triumph since 2013. Any upset would have to come at long odds, especially considering the ‘Dragons’ have lost their last five internationals on foreign soil by an aggregate score of 16-0! In fact, since October 2019, they’ve lost all but one away game (W1, L11), with ten of those 11 defeats producing multi-goal margins and ten seeing them fail to get on the scoresheet.