HANOI, September 5. /TASS/. The Russian national football team defeated Vietnam 3-0 in the opening match of a friendly football tournament in Hanoi on Thursday.

The goals were scored by Daler Kuzyayev (24th minute), Tamerlan Musayev (77th minute) as well as by Vietnam’s Vu Van Thankh, who netted a ball in his own team’s goal on the 62nd minute of the match.

The match was held as part of the LPBank tournament and on September 7 the Russian side is set to play in Hanoi against Thailand.

The Russian Football Union (RFU) stated in August that it wanted the Russian national football squad to play ten friendlies a year against countries ranked in the top 80 of the FIFA Rankings. On September 5, Russia was set to play a friendly against Vietnam, which is currently 115th in FIFA Rankings and two days later, against Thailand (101st in FIFA Rankings). Both matches are hosted by the over 40,200-seat capacity My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.

RFU President Alexander Dyukov announced earlier in the day that a possible friendly football match between the national teams of Paraguay and Russia might be organized next year.

The Russian national football team was scheduled to play a friendly football match against Paraguay on March 25, but the game was called off following a deadly terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow Region earlier that month.

Russia’s football ban

The International Association Football Federation (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022 that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.

In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision in regard to the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.

Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.

Since sanctions were introduced, the Russian national football squad has played a host of friendlies against other countries, namely against Kyrgyzstan (2-1), Tajikistan (0-0), Uzbekistan (0-0), Iran (1-1), Iraq (2-0), Cameroon (1-0), Kenya (2-2), Cuba (8-0), Serbia (4-0) and Belarus 4-0.