Vietnamese football side Hanoi T&T must complete a long and winding trip this weekend to South Korea before they will face a local team for a spot at Asia's top club competition, officials here said Thursday.
Hanoi T&T will meet Pohang Steelers of the K League Classic in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, next Tuesday in the final playoff for the Asian Football Confederation Champions League. The winner will make it to the group stage of the annual tournament.
According to K League officials, Hanoi T&T on Wednesday had trouble finding plane tickets to South Korea, as the match fell during the Lunar New Year holiday for both countries. They only qualified for the match against Pohang by defeating Hong Kong club Kitchee 1-0 Tuesday.
The Vietnamese club managed to finalize their itinerary on Thursday, and they will travel to Gimhae International Airport in Busan, a southern port city located about 120 kilometers south of Pohang, instead of Incheon International Airport, the country's main gateway, some 400 kilometers northwest of Pohang.
After the match, they will leave through Incheon but weren't able to find flights from Gimhae to Incheon airport. They will likely to have to ride a bus in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to make it to the airport on time, as it is the last day of the long weekend and northbound roads are expected to be congested.
The winner of this showdown will be paired with Guangzhou Evergrande of China, Sydney FC of Australia and Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan in Group H. The top two teams from each group will reach the round of 16. (Yonhap)
