Vietnam vs United Arab Emirates 14/11/19

14 November 2019

Vietnam’s hopes of qualification for the most prestigious international tournament will face a formidable challenge as they entertain the United Arab Emirates at the My Dinh National Stadium in the 2020 FIFA World Cup Qualifying (WCQ).

After playing out a goalless away draw with Thailand in the WCQ curtain-raiser, the hosts have pulled off two straight victories to go level on points with Thailand at the top of Group G. Interestingly, all four WCQ goals the Golden Star Warriors have scored so far have come before the 65th minute, while the only goal they’ve allowed arrived beyond the 80th. Park Hang-Seo’s men have proved to be a tough nut to crack when at home, having racked up an impressive 18-game unbeaten home run, friendlies included (W11, D7). But, their electric home form is on the line here, as they’ve lost both of their previous home H2H clashes against UAE – each by a single-goal margin.

Meanwhile, the visitors have started their qualifying campaign off on the right foot, securing back-to-back triumphs over Malaysia and Indonesia. Both of those successes have seen the UAE find the net in both halves and restrict their rivals to a maximum of one goal per match. However, ‘Al Abyad’ come into this meeting after suffering a shock 2-1 away loss to Thailand that saw them slip to third place in the standings. Bert van Marwijk’s men now have a perfect chance to bounce back as they face-off against the nation they’ve beaten in all four of their previous competitive H2Hs. The UAE have not only prevented Vietnam from scoring in three of those clashes, but they’ve also netted precisely five goals per match twice along the way.