Preview: Vietnam vs Chinese Taipei - prediction, team news, lineups

Vietnam play host to Chinese Taipei in an international friendly on Wednesday.

The home side are looking to respond to having failed to defend the FIFA ASEAN Cup, a competition which they have won on the previous two occasions.

Match preview

While Vietnam are punching above their weight at 99th in the FIFA World Rankings, Kim Sang-Sik's side recently experienced major disappointment.

The four-time winners of the ASEAN Cup, and two-time defending champions, lost 1-0 to Malaysia in the bronze-medal match.

Suffering a 2-1 defeat to Thailand two games earlier had cost Vietnam a place in the final, and it has left Kim with much to ponder.

Prior to that double frustration, Vietnam had been on a remarkable 33-game unbeaten streak, which started in September 2024.

Either side of the Thailand and Malaysia defeats, they had posted a 4-2 triumph over Pakistan.

In sharp contrast, Chinese Taipei - ranked 176th in the FIFA World Rankings - are currently on an eight-match losing streak, which has lasted since 2024.

Wednesday's game is the first time that they have played since March, when they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Sri Lanka.

Across five matches played since September 2025, Chinese Taipei have conceded 20 goals. They have faced Indonesia, Thailand and Turkmenistan during that period.

This is the first encounter between these nations since a 1-1 draw was played out in a friendly in March 2017.

Although Vietnam won the previous games in 2015 and 2016 respectively, Chinese Taipei have scored in all three contests.

Vietnam form (all competitions):

Chinese Taipei form (all competitions):

Team News

Aside from goalkeeper Patrik Le Giang, the other 10 players from Vietnam's last XI do not feature in this squad.

Therefore, Kim's starting lineup is a complete unknown, with our team selection based on players who have already earned caps.

Nguyen Thanh Chung, with 44 appearances, appears likely to start in defence, while Nguyen Dinh Bac has 10 goals from 26 games for his country. There are 11 uncapped players in the squad.

Meanwhile, each of the 11 players that started Chinese Taipei's most recent match in March have been selected in Matt Ross's squad.

Captain Chen Po-liang will earn his 99th cap if he starts this contest. Ivory Coast-born Ange Kouame, with six goals from 17 games for Chinese Taipei, is in line to start as the number 10.

Vietnam possible starting lineup:

Le Giang; T Nguyen, Phan, N Nguyen, Pham; Khuat, Vo, Le; D Nguyen, T Nguyen, V Nguyen

Chinese Taipei possible starting lineup:

C Huang; Kuo, Hsu, Baudelet, Tiao; Wu, Chen; Yu, Kouame, Estevez; W Huang

We say: Vietnam 2-1 Chinese Taipei

Although Vietnam have lost two of their last three games, we cannot ignore the length of Chinese Taipei's run of defeats. While there is potential for this match to be competitive at times, Vietnam should have enough quality to come through with a hard-earned win.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.