Vietnam and the Philippines will meet on November 16. This is the opening match of both teams, in Group F of the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia.
Before the match, Philippines coach Micahel Wiess said: "The current Philippines team has a combination of experienced players and young players."
Coach Michael Weiss of the Philippines team (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).
"Our young talents are growing thanks to the recent good performance of Philippine clubs in Asian cups," coach Michael Weiss added.
Previously, the German coach who is leading the Philippines team announced the list of 26 players, preparing for the match with the Vietnam team.
Notable among them are Philippine football stars such as goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, who used to play in the English Premier League. Neil Etheridge currently plays for Birmingham City in the Championship (the league just below the Premier League).
In theory, the Vietnamese team is rated higher than the Philippine team (Photo: AFC).
In addition, the Philippines also has winger Patrick Reichelt (playing for Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur City Club), midfielders Manny Ott (Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia) and Mike Ott (Barito Putera, Indonesia).
These are experienced players, expected to lead the Philippines to compete on par with the Vietnamese team.
Coach Michael Weiss added: "We will be able to compete with the Vietnamese and Indonesian teams in the World Cup qualifiers. I hope the audience will come to the stadium to support us."
The Philippines has the advantage of playing at home at Rizal Memorial Stadium, which uses artificial turf, while the Vietnamese players are only used to playing on natural grass in their country. This is a factor that helps the Philippine football community believe that they will score points against the Vietnamese team.
Vietnam and the Philippines are both in Group F of the 2nd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. Iraq and Indonesia are also in this group. The top two teams in each group of the 2nd qualifying round will advance to the 3rd qualifying round.
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