HCM City Football Cup unattractive to foreign teams
By VietNamNet Bridge
The national football squads of Trinidad & Tobago and Bahrain have turned down the HCM City Football Federation’s invitation to take part in the upcoming HCM City Football Cup, which is scheduled for October 1-5 in HCM City.
In its dispatch, Trinidad & Tobago explained that the team couldn’t participate in the tournament in HCM City because of the geographical distance and because the team has to prepare for the qualifier round of the World Cup 2010.
After this team said no to the HCM City Football Cup, the organising board immediately received the Bahrain team’s refusal. At present, the HCM City Football Cup has only two names: the national squads of Vietnam and Turkmenistan.
The organising board has invited a South Korean student team to replace Trinidad & Tobago and it plans to invite the national team of Myanmar as an alternative for the Bahrain team.
As Trinidad & Tobago and Bahrain teams have refused to come, the Vietnamese national team has lost a chance to practice against qualified rivals to prepare for the AFF Cup in December.