AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 champions Vietnam are about to face Jordan in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 Round of 16 clash at the Rashid Al-Maktoum Stadium in Dubai on Sunday. 

The fixture between the Golden Dragons coached by Park Hang-seo and Jordan, coached by former Belgium assistant coach Vital Borkelmans, promises to be an exciting one.

But before that, let’s take a look at the five key facts about the crunch knockout encounter.

1) Vietnam and Jordan have recent history

This might be only the first meeting between Jordan and Vietnam at the Asian Cup, but the two teams did meet recently twice!

And it was during their road to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the sides clashed in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 Qualifiers.

In the third round of the qualifiers, Vietnam and Jordan were pooled with Afghanistan and Cambodia in the same group.

The two sides played out a goalless draw in their first game at the Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City while it was a 1-1 draw in Amman as Nguyen Anh Duc opened the scoring for the Golden Dragons before Abu Amarah equalised in the second half.

2) Jordan have lost two in two in the knockouts

Jordan have been eliminated in both of their Asian Cup knockout games so far.

In their first ever Asian Cup at China in 2004, they reached the quarterfinals only to lose to Japan on penalties while in 2011 at Qatar, they were beaten 2-1 by Uzbekistan.

3) Vietnam’s second knockouts in as many appearances 

Vietnam have qualified for the Asian Cup knockout stages in each of their two appearances in the competition.

In their previous appearance at the continental championship in 2007, Vietnam finished second behind Japan to make it to the quarterfinals. However, there they faced a tough opposition in the form of eventual champions Iraq and lost 2-0.

4) The Golden Dragons youngest 11 in the tournament 

2019 AFC Asian Cup: All you need to know about VIETNAM

The average age of Vietnam’s starting XI at the Asian Cup 2019 has been younger than any other side in the competition.

Vietnam’s starting 11 fielded for the three group games averages just 24 year and 26 days.

5) Al-Taamari the key man for Jordan

AFC Asian Cup 2019: Jordan 1-0 Syria – Musa Al Taamari (27′)

The Vietnam defence marshalled by captain Que Ngoc Hai are set for a field day especially with them having to deal with Jordan’s Musa Al-Taamari.

Al-Taamari has been in scintillating format the Asian Cup 2019 having been involved in all of Jordan’s three goals so far, despite only playing in two of their three group matches.

He has one goal and two assists to his name in the tournament. And Vietnam’s hopes of progressing to the quarterfinals will rely heavily on them dealing with the Jordanian attacker.