Friendly tournament in Vietnam sparks debate among Russian football community

Russia are 33rd on FIFA world ranking, 68 places higher than Thailand and 82 places above Vietnam. Although the three teams have never met in the past, Russia’s strength is considered to be greatly superior to the two Southeast Asian teams.

Former footballer Aleksandr Mostovoi said that he did not see anything interesting in this friendly tournament. He said that facing Thailand and Vietnam would not bring any benefit to Russia, as there are still stronger opponents that Russia can play friendlies with, despite them being under FIFA and UEFA sanctions due to the current situation in Ukraine.

Mostovoi compared the friendly tournament to Russia’s 8-0 friendly win over Cuba in November 2023.

“The upcoming friendly matches is 10 times worse than playing Cuba,” the 55-year-old former player told Metaratings. “These matches are meaningless.”

Former Spartak Moscow coach Raul Riancho gave similar comments. The Spanish coach believes that only by playing against opponents of equal or bigger power can one develop.

“When you play against weaker opponents, it’s the opponents who improve. These matches benefit Thailand and Vietnam more than Russia,” Riancho told RB Sport.

However, some other figures in Russian football are interested in the upcoming tournament.

Ilya Gerkus, former CEO of capital club Lokomotiv Moscow, found it interesting that Russia had never met Southeast Asian opponents in the past.

“I’m eager to see the strength of Vietnam and Thailand,” Gerkus said, as cited by Rusfootball.

Russia’s FIFA ranking is superior. But Gerkus was surprised to see that Thailand (101st) are above Kazakhstan (109th), while Vietnam (115th) is above Estonia (123rd) and Latvia (137th), all Russia’s neighbors.

The Ukraine war has prevented Russia from participating in official tournaments. They have been an outsider since the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and were excluded from Euro 2024. Russia can only play friendlies, including 11 matches since September 2022, in which only two opponents are from Europe, Serbia and Belarus. Other opponents are Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Cameroon, Kenya and Cuba.

According to Thai newspaper Siam Sports, choosing opponents is not easy for national coach Valery Karpin and his team, especially when the World Cup qualifiers are coming. Therefore, veteran coach Yury Syomin affirmed that diversity in selecting opponents is needed for the national team to compete. The 77-year-old coach highly appreciated the efforts of the Russian Football Union (RFU) in the current difficult situation.

“Russia still need to defeat Vietnam and Thailand because no opponent is easy,” Syomin told Championat. “The team must be united at all times, organize training sessions and play friendly games frequently.”

Famous Russian TV presenter Dmitry Guberniev called those who criticized the friendly matches with Thailand and Vietnam “idiots”. He believes Russia should thank the countries that agreed to play with them.

“There is no need to argue with idiots. We need to follow our path and attract more national team supporters. No matter who your opponents are, play and say thank you,” Guberniev said in an interview with Sovsport.

The friendly tournament between Russia, Vietnam and Thailand is scheduled to be held at My Dinh Stadium, Hanoi. Vietnam will meet Russia on Sept. 5 and Thailand on Sept. 10, while the Thailand-Russia clash is on the 7th.

Both Vietnam and Thailand were eliminated in the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, so they will have time to play friendlies in September and October. The two teams are currently preparing for the 2024 ASEAN Cup, which will take place in December.

The two Southeast Asian rivals have not had many opportunities facing strong opponents from Europe. Thailand were thrashed 0-8 by Georgia in a friendly in October 2023, while Vietnam have not faced any team outside Asia since the 2019 King’s Cup final, losing to North American team Curacao in a penalty shootout.