On July 14, the Vietnamese media broke the heavy news that the Vietnamese government held an emergency meeting on the same day and made a resolution to approve the Vietnamese team to be able to hold home matches in their hometown during the upcoming Round of 12 tournament, with the home venue chosen to be located in Hanoi's My Dinh Stadium. This decision is undoubtedly a relief for the Vietnamese team.
Back on July 1, the day after the draw for the 12-team tournament was announced, the AFC gave an ultimatum to participating member associations to submit their home stadiums and alternative home stadium arrangements by July 16th. However, due to the epidemic, all member associations have encountered difficulties in preparing for the 12-team tournament, and the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) is no exception, worried about whether they will be able to play at home during the 12-team tournament.
The Vietnam Football Association (VFA) has chosen to host the Round of 12 matches at the My Ting Stadium in Hanoi because the stadium has a special symbolic meaning for Vietnamese soccer. As the head coach of the Vietnam team and the Vietnam U23 team, South Korean Park Hang-su has led the team to numerous victories at this venue. But at the same time, the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) has made it clear that whether or not matches can be played at the My Thanh Stadium depends on the Vietnamese government. Recently, the Vietnam League, which was scheduled to restart on July 31, has been announced to be further postponed due to the rebound of the epidemic in Vietnam.
In mid-June, the Vietnamese team underwent a 14-day quarantine after returning to Vietnam from the UAE Top 40 tournament. The Telefonica Vietnam team, which recently participated in the AFC Champions League in Thailand, has also strictly enforced the "14+7" quarantine policy after returning to the country. Nevertheless, the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) is not optimistic about the prospect of playing in the home country. After all, the World Football Federation and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have strict rules on the quarantine period for visiting teams, and in the event of a conflict with the quarantine rules of the host team, a third-party venue will have to be chosen as an alternative home. For this reason, the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) had to ask the government for help.
While waiting, the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) has also embarked on other contingency plans. According to Vietnamese media reports, the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) has contacted the football associations of five countries, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uzbekistan, Thailand, and the Republic of Korea (ROK), and is ready to pick one of these member associations' countries as an alternate home ground. The Vietnam Football Association (VFA) reportedly favors arranging the team's alternate home ground in the UAE or Thailand.
However, moving home matches to third-party venues will come at a huge financial cost. According to the budget of the Vietnam Football Association (VFA), it will cost at least VND10 to 15 billion (roughly RMB280 to 420 million) if the Vietnamese team plays its home matches of the 12-team tournament in other member association countries (regions), not including the cost of the venue rental and all the expenses for the participating visiting teams, AFC officials, referees, and other tournament-related personnel during the period in the 3rd place. This is undoubtedly a heavy burden for the Vietnam Football Association.
In the face of difficulties, the Vietnam Football Association also thought of a "brilliant plan" - follow the Japanese team last year in a two-tier war when the strategy used, that is, the formation of two Vietnamese teams, respectively, to deal with the team in the final 12 home and away games. It is understood that the Japanese team last year due to the epidemic and world travel conditions, respectively, the formation of two national teams. An "all-European class" team in Europe to participate in the world A warm-up matches, the other by the hometown league players composed of representatives of the team to deal with their own territory to organize the game. During the second half of this year's Top 40, the Japanese team also formed two sets of lineups to face their opponents in the same group.
The Vietnam Football Association (VFA) did not come up with this idea out of the blue, as South Korean Park Hang-soo is the head coach of both the Vietnam team and the Vietnam U23 national team, which have different match assignments but identical technical and tactical styles of play. However, the plan was ultimately rejected due to the obvious gap between the overall level of Vietnamese soccer and Japan's, and the lack of a pool of talented players to match the Japanese team.
Just as the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) is almost in despair, the relevant parts of the Vietnamese government held a special meeting on the 14th on the arrangement of the home stadium of the Vietnam team for the 12th round of the tournament. According to Vietnamese media reports, the meeting unanimously resolved to approve the Vietnam Football Association's request to locate the Vietnam team's home stadium at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi after careful study by all parties attending the meeting. In order to prevent epidemics, the Vietnamese government has requested that all parties involved in the match, including the Vietnamese team, match supervisors, referees, and visiting teams, must carry out their activities under complete closure during their stay in Vietnam. In other words, they must always be within the closed loop of epidemic prevention from the airport to hotels, training venues and match venues. It is reported that the meeting also conveyed a signal to the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) that visiting teams and members of their delegations to Vietnam are expected to be vaccinated before entering Vietnamese territory. The meeting also acknowledged that the status of epidemic prevention and control will be used to decide whether the matches will be opened to fans and the specific attendance rate after the opening.
