As Thanh Nien reported, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has already negotiated to play a friendly match with Thailand and another opponent (Panama or Russia) during the FIFA Days in September. In particular, the possibility that the Vietnamese team will "test the waters" with the strong Russian team seems higher, with the appearance of an article on the Sport Express page titled: "Things to know about the upcoming opponent of the Russian national team".

It is known that the General Secretary of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Maxim Mitrofanov once announced that the country's team will play two friendly matches in September, but kept the identity of the opponents a secret. Sport Express recently revealed: "The Russian team will play against the national teams of Vietnam and Thailand. Both of these friendly matches will take place in Vietnam, in Ho Chi Minh City and will be organized as a triumvirate tournament. Ho Chi Minh City has two suitable stadiums: Thong Nhat with a capacity of 14,400 spectators and Quan Khu 7 Stadium with a capacity of 10,000 spectators".

The Russian newspaper also paid attention to a star of the Vietnamese team, Dang Van Lam: "Interestingly, the Vietnamese team has a goalkeeper of Russian blood. The 31-year-old goalkeeper Dang Van Lam was born in Moscow. His father is Vietnamese, and his mother is Russian. Dang Van Lam used to play football at Spartak, Krylya Sovetov and Dynamo, before he moved to Vietnam in 2010. Since 2015, Van Lam has been a member of the Vietnamese team until now."

Sport Express also said that many teams (especially in Southeast Asia) have sent offers to play friendly matches with the Russian team during the upcoming FIFA Days, including Malaysia, Indonesia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Accordingly, the RFU leadership may choose the above names for the Russian team to compete against during the FIFA Days in October.