Vietnam will be without the services of Le Cong Vinh, Huynh Quang Thanh and Phan Van Tai Em as Henrique Calisto’s side look to keep their AFC Asian Cup 2011 hopes alive against Lebanon on Wednesday at Saida Municipality Stadium.

Star striker Cong Vinh (pictured) is suspended following his dismissal in the goalless draw with Group D leaders Syria in November, which left Vietnam trailing second-placed China by five points with two games remaining, while 2005 Vietnamese player of the year Van Tai Em and Binh Duong defender Quang Thanh are carrying injuries.

And with China entertaining a Syria side who have already qualified for the finals, Calisto knows Vietnam can afford no further slip ups.

"We are travelling a long distance not to lose," said the 56-year-old Portuguese coach.

“We previously made some mistakes in the game against Syria and this should not happen again.

"We will be missing the services of some key players, but we must not use that as an excuse. We have prepared well for the game, which will be difficult, but I'm confident that we can get a win.

"We have good chances to win on Wednesday as we can get three important points, however, this is football and everything can happen."

Lebanon are out of the qualification race after suffering four straight defeats, including a 3-1 defeat in Hanoi at the start of the campaign.

But coach Emile Rustom, who saw his side lose 1-0 to China last time out in November, still has hopes of picking up a first win of the campaign.

"We don't have any chance to qualify as we lost our previous matches," he said.

"However, we have introduced some fresh blood into the team and hopefully they can get good experience from the match against Vietnam.

"We have previously played against Vietnam and they are not a strong side like Argentina for example.

“They play a fast game and they have good physical strength and they have good support which can make the difference.

"We will try our best to take advantage of the circumstances that we have and hopefully the Vietnamese players will be affected with the weather and this will play in our favour.”