Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals

The team have dishes are colored in either yellow or red, topped with a golden star representing the national flag of Vietnam
June 20, 2021 | 14:33
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Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals
The meal was uploaded by Nguyen Van Hoang on his Instagram. (Photo: Nguyen Van Hoang)

The Vietnam National Football team couldn’t hide their excitement and gratitude for the unique servings they got on the flight from Dubai to HCMC Thursday.

Goalkeepr Nguyen Van Hoang uploaded a photo on his Instagram capturing his in-flight meal. The portion includes fried rice, chicken, vegetables, salad, bread, avocado and flan. These are typical dishes of the carrier, however, the decoration was a little more creative and meaningful.

The food was colored under a red-and-yellow theme and highlighted with small golden stars placed on top, resembling the national flag. Fried rice was shaped into a heart to express the love and thanks of the airline carrier and Vietnamese fans to all the players, head coach Park Hang Seo and other coaching staff.

Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals
The food is intricately decorated with the miniature of Vietnam national flag (Photo: VFF)
Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals
(Photo: VFF)

The dessert reportedly surprised the footballers and coaching team the most. Thirty flans have been prepared with the chocolate matcha layer on top shaped into a football shirt. The name and number of coach Park and the football stars were intricately written onto the shirts.

The surprise shows how thoughtful the staff are towards the national football heroes who had made history by advancing to the final qualifying round of World Cup 2022.

Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals
The name and number of coach Park, footballers, and coaching staff are written on each flan (Photo: VFF)
Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals
Goalkeeper Tan Truong poses with his special flan (Photo: VFF)
Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals
Striker Nguyen Tien Linh (Photo: VFF)
Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals
Striker Quang Hai looks happy with the meal (Photo: VFF)

After touching down at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on June 17, all team members have been reportedly quarantining for seven days at a centralized isolation center before undergoing seven more days of self-isolating. They will be tested for coronavirus on the first and sixth days at the quarantine center and the 13th day of home isolation. They are asked to self-monitor their health for four weeks after Vietnam.

Vietnamese football stars grateful for special in-flight meals
Head coach Park Hang Seo receives presents from the airline carrier during the flight (Photo: VFF)

“Normally, centralized quarantine time lasts for 21 days. However, members of the football team are all fully vaccinated, therefore their quarantine period will be shortened,” said Vu Manh Cuong, deputy director of the department of emulation and commendation under the Ministry of Health.

Cuong said the health ministry had also prepared a plan to shorten the concentrated isolation period to seven days for those fully vaccinated, or having recovered from the disease within 12 months.

For the first time in history, the Vietnam National Football team has made it to the third round of World Cup qualifiers as one of the best runners-up. The team had earlier knocked out Indonesia and Malaysia before losing 2-3 to UAE in the last match of group G on June 15. They advanced as one of the five best second-placed teams in the tournament.

Vietnam also advanced to the final round of Asian Cup 2023 without having to play qualifiers for the first time, being the fourth second-best team.

They will join the hosts China, Australia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Syria and the UAE at the tournament to be held between June 16 and July 16, 2023.

At the Asian Cup 2019, Vietnam reached the semifinal and lost 0-1 to Japan.

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