AFC Blog
2017 afc vietnam - ho chi minh city
Day 1 - TRAVEL DAY
After a long and successful pre-season, the day has finally come where the team travels to Vietnam for the 2017 AFC Futsal Club Championship.
A team lunch at the airport to begin the long journey to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A 3 hour time difference (backwards) meant the team arrived at 8.30pm greeted by an AFC Official on a very humid Monday night.
A short bus ride later we arrived at our accommodation, Park Royal Hotel, our home for the next 14 days and headed straight for a late dinner.
After a nice Vietnamese meal, players and staff headed up to their rooms to recover after a long day of traveling to prepare for a what comes next.
Day 2 - FOUNDATION DAY
GOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAM! 🇻🇳
Our first official day kicked off with a breakfast to refuel the players after yesterdays travels. The team took the opportunity to stroll around the surrounding streets of Ho Chi Minh City and climatise.
A team meeting to discuss and outlay our goals and objectives for our upcoming group games against Al Dhafrah (UAE), FC EREM (Kyrgyzstan) and host nations Thai Son Nam (Vietnam). Due to Jonathan Barrientos’ current injury - the club also announced the new captain for the 2017 AFC Futsal Club Championship campaign - Christos Apostolakis and the Vice Captains - Miguel Barrigos and Adam Cooper.
Later that evening, the squad kitted up for the first official training session on a very wet but warm night. It was a great first session under tough conditions and after a solid hit out, the team headed back for a pool recovery session and a nice meal to end a productive second day.
Day 3 - PREPARATION DAY
With all the participating teams now in Vietnam, the official press conference kicked off the day’s schedule. Coach Milton Sakkos addressed the media ahead of our first game ahead Al Dhafrah (UAE), while the boys relaxed at the hotel to prepare for the evening’s open media training session at the official stadium.
Arriving at the stadium, seeing the club emblem displayed on banners next to some of Asia’s best clubs for the third time was a great sight to see for the team. The training session was a short but intense final hit out before tomorrow’s game.
Day 4 - MATCHDAY ONE
Opening game, everything we have worked towards over the last 6 months starts today! A very important game for the boys and the club.
The day started with a normal breakfast, followed by a light lunch before a pre-game meeting to discuss the upcoming game against Al Dhafra (UAE). All the talk was now over and it was time to take centre stage at the Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium, home of the 2017 AFC Futsal Club Championships.
However, the final score was not to be in our favour and now we regroup and focus on the next challenge against the host nation’s Thai Son Nam (Vietnam). Stay tuned and support the Vipers.
Day 5 - BREAK AND RECOVERY
A light session the morning after the opening game against Al Dhafra (UAE) to plan for game 2.
The rest of the day consisted resting and recovery.
Day 6 - MATCHDAY TWO
A big day ahead for the team as they prepared to take on a different style of play from matchday 1 opponents Al Dhafra (UAE). A team meeting and video analysis to address and plan for the crucial game against Thai Son Nam (Vietnam).
Before we knew, it was time to face the host nation’s champions in a must win game to give ourselves a chance to advance to the second stage of the AFC tournament.
Unfortunately, Thai Son Nam (Vietnam) proved to be too good on the night - showing their experience backed by a packed stadium of supporters. It was a disappointing result which leaves the team a near impossible task to advance with one games remaining against FC EREM (Kyrgyzstan).
Day 7 - RECOVERY DAY
Sunday morning started with a team video analysis of our game from the night before. After the meeting, the team boarded the bus and headed for Thai Son Nam’s home stadium for a light recovery sessions and to prepare for our third and final game against FC EREM (Kyrgyzstan).
Day 8 - MATCHDAY THREE
With Miguel Barrigos back in the squad after missing the previous game due to illness, it was now Adam Cooper and Cosimo Russo were set to miss the final game also due to an illness.
Despite the result not going our way, the team’s performance and unity really shone through even though the squad were low on numbers. It was a much improved defensive game that was missing from the first two matches.
Even though our journey ends without the results we wanted, there were plenty of positives we can take from this experience.
Thanks to all of our supporters back home and those from other parts of the world. 💙
