Pham Duc Hoa and his teammates’ path to the 2024 Futsal World Cup finals is closer. If they overcome Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship, the Vietnamese futsal team will officially win a ticket to the Futsal World Cup finals next September, for the third consecutive time participating in the big festival. of world futsal.
In case of failure, coach Diego Giustozzi and his team still have a chance to compete for the final spot through the play-off round with 3 opponents also losing in the quarterfinals.
The tournament has entered the knockout round, where teams are not allowed to make mistakes. Should avoid the risk of having to win 2 more matches in the play-off round to qualify for the futsal World Cup, certainly the goal of coach Giustozzi and his team is to defeat Uzbekistan to receive a direct ticket.
In the Asian region, Uzbekistan automatically has a ticket to attend the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup because it is the host. There are 2 options for 4 official slots. If Uzbekistan stops early in the Asian tournament, tickets to the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup will belong to the 4 teams participating in the semi-finals. If Uzbekistan reaches the Top 4, the last ticket will go to the winner of the play-off round between the four losing teams in the quarterfinals.
This is also considered an advantage for the Vietnamese futsal team. However, this is a very strong opponent and difficult to defeat. Uzbekistan’s futsal team is currently ranked 17 places above Vietnam’s futsal team in the world rankings and they are continuously in the Top 3 of Asian futsal.
The Vietnam futsal team has participated in the FIFA Futsal World Cup twice in 2016 (in Colombia) and 2021 (in Lithuania). Both times, the Vietnamese futsal team reached the 1/8 round.
Along with that, according to coach Jose Venancio Lopez, the Uzbekistan team will be determined to defeat Giustozzi and his team. Because the representative from Central Asia has set many goals for the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship, including competing for the championship as well as giving the whole team more quality matches to prepare for the futsal finals. World Cup 2024.
The fact that Uzbekistan will enter the game with an open mind and attack is something that the Vietnamese futsal team really likes. Because coach Giustozzi is very good at organizing attacks very quickly, and his flexibility in changing tactics has helped the Argentine coach build diverse playing styles and ways of deploying the ball for his students.
The history of confrontation between the two teams is in favor of Uzbekistan (5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss). The only win of the Vietnamese futsal team at the 2014 Ho Chi Minh City Friendly Futsal Cup was 6 – 4. The last time the two teams met in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Asian Futsal Championship, Vietnam lost 1 – 3.
As the host country of the 2024 Futsal World Cup, Uzbekistan has invested a lot in this event. They invited former Spanish futsal coach Jose Venancio López to lead the national team. This coach was appointed in September 2023 and has had 7 months to build his philosophy for Uzbekistan futsal.
Coach Jose Venancio López’s track record is very impressive with Spain winning the championship four times and winning the futsal World Cup runner-up twice. Although the Uzbekistan futsal team will certainly participate in the 2024 Futsal World Cup as the host, Mr. Lopez’s main goal in this tournament is the first title in the Asian futsal arena.
Facing a strong opponent like Uzbekistan, the Vietnamese futsal team really faces a big challenge to participate in the futsal World Cup for the third time in a row.
The opponent is very strong, so Vietnamese fans believe that their team will be able to rewrite history in the confrontations with Uzbekistan.
The match between Vietnam and Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship will take place at 9:00 p.m. on April 24 at the Bangkok Arena (Thailand).
Quarterfinal match schedule of the 2024 Asian futsal tournament
April 24
14:00: Tajikistan – Afghanistan
16:00: Iran – Kyrgyzstan
18:00: Thailand – Iraq
20:00: Uzbekistan – Vietnam
The 2024 Asian Futsal Championship final round is also the 2024 Futsal World Cup qualifying round. The four teams with the best results at this tournament will represent the Asian region at the 2024 Futsal World Cup finals in Uzbekistan.
