Tickets sold out for Vietnam-Malaysia clash in World Cup qualifiers

More than 20,000 tickets for the World Cup qualifying match between Vietnam and Malaysia, scheduled to take place at Hanoi’s My Dinh Stadium on October 10, have sold out shortly after they went up on sale online, the Vietnamese Football Federation (VFF) has confirmed.

Vietnamese striker Nguyen Cong Phuong celebrates scoring against Malaysia in the group stage of the 2018 AFF Cup.
Vietnamese striker Nguyen Cong Phuong celebrates scoring against Malaysia in the group stage of the 2018 AFF Cup.

“All the tickets were snapped up on September 19. The selling of tickets online has proved appropriate and will continue to be applied in future,” said VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh.

My Dinh Stadium has a capacity of 40,000. However, in order to ensure security, the VFF has issued only 35,000 tickets, over 20,000 of which were sold online in three sessions on Friday.

The federation gives around 2,000 tickets for the Malaysian side, with the remainder to be distributed to FIFA, the AFC, sponsors of the national team and domestic football clubs. In particularly, 500 tickets are privately open to special subjects who are war invalids and sick soldiers.

The Vietnam-Malaysia clash is slated for 8pm on October 10. Vietnam currently stand in third place in Group G with one point, earned from the goalless away draw against Thailand. Malaysia have won three points following their 2-1 win against Indonesia and 1-2 defeat to the United Arab Emirates.

Vietnam’s head coach Park Hang-seo is no longer a stranger to Malaysia following the confrontations between the two sides at the 2018 AFF Cup. He led the Golden Dragons to beat their Malaysian opponents 2-0 in the group stage and 3-2 on aggregate in the final to quench Vietnam’s decade-long thirst for the regional trophy.

Park plans to return to Vietnam from his homeland on September 21 to prepare for the Malaysia match. He will arrange two training camps for the national team, from September 23 to 30 and from October 6, right after the conclusion of V.League matchday 25.