The story of India and Vietnam's football rivalry goes long back. Between the 1950s and 1970s, India played several tight matches against the erstwhile South Vietnam national team in multiple Merdeka Cups and Asian Games tournaments.
But meetings have been rare in the 21st century, and Saturday's match in Nam Dinh will only be the fourth time India will face unified Vietnam in senior internationals.
All the previous three were also friendly matches. In 2004, Vietnam nicked a 2-1 win in the LG Cup in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2010, a Sunil Chhetri hat-trick powered India to a 3-1 friendly win in Pune.
The most recent fixture came in 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City when the hosts won 3-0 in the Hung Thinh Friendly Tournament. The current Vietnam squad has 13 players who featured two years ago, including two goalscorers Nguyen Van Toan and Nguyen Van Quyet.