Football 

HÀ NỘI  Midfielder Nguyễn Hoàng Đức promised to present a new face of Việt Nam football, hoping to score for the national team when they play Russia in the opening match of the international LPBank Cup 2024 today in Hà Nội.

Russia will be a tough match for Việt Nam. Despite a two-year sanction across all football levels, the team still retain their place at No 33 in the world while Việt Nam are No 115. The other team in the event is Thailand, which placed No 101.

However Đức said the upcoming match was not only the opener to the tournament, but also part of the nation celebrating historic days, so Việt Nam is aiming high.

"We always aim to play with the highest spirit in any match. The match with the Russian team on September 5 will be a special occasion for us. Việt Nam will play with dedication and achieve good result for our supporters," Đức said after a training session on Tuesday.

"In the last few days, the coaching staff provided a high-intensity training plan. We have been trained physically to prepare for the match. We also have practised with different formations, sharpening our defence and attack abilities. People will see a Vietnamese team with a very new face in the upcoming matches," said the two-time Golden Ball winner.

The first two Russian players, midfielder Daler Kuzyayev and goalkeeper Matvei Safonov, arrived in Hà Nội on the morning of September 4, while the remaining 25 joined them later.

Kuzyayev is playing for Le Harve while Safonov guards the woodwork of PSG in the French Ligue 1. They had just ended their matches and flew directly to Việt Nam instead of heading to Russia to join their teammates, who had their first training on September 2 at the UTB Novogorsk, home of Dynamo Moscow II. 

Speaking to the media before leaving for Việt Nam, coach Valeri Karpin said he saw players' readiness and desire to play for the national team, whether it's the match against Việt Nam and Thailand or any other team. So far everything was fine and he would wait to see their performance.

He said Russia of course wanted to beat Việt Nam, even under hot, humid conditions and on a pitch which might not be of the highest quality. These problems were considered but not reasons to affect the team's result, he said.

The Russian coaching board have been researching everything and players watched videos to know how Việt Nam and Thailand played.

Due to injuries, some of the best players, such as Maxim Glushenkov, Yury Gorshkov and Daniil Fomin, would not be in the tournaments but Karpin said he would have two different line-ups for the two matches in Hà Nội.

Left winger Andrei Mostovoy said: "Russia have good players and will focus on ourselves. However, winning the upcoming matches in Việt Nam will not be easy. We have to adapt to weather conditions and the different time zone after a long flight. We will prepare well and compete hard."

Russia are a strong team, have competed 11 times in World Cups and advanced to the semi-finals twice, in 1966 and 2018.

They played 11 friendly matches in the last two years and have not lost a game, most recently, beating Cuba 8-0, defeating Serbia and winning 4-0 against Belarus. VNS