Football player deserts Asian Cup to get married For the second time during this Asian Cup a player will desert his team to get hitched. Vietnam playmaker Phan Van Tai Em is to miss the biggest game of his life on Saturday as he has already organised his wedding on the same day. The tournament surprise package play Iraq in the quarter-finals but will be without one of their star players. Coach Alfred Riedl previously expressed his disappointment that a player had so little faith in his team's chances of making the knock-out stages that he arranged his wedding on the day of the quarters. But on Friday he said: "Tai Em has his wedding day so we have to release him. He can't change his wedding day as there are too many people coming to the marriage already and it's an important day for him. "We don't want to force him or put pressure on him." Vietnam captain Nguyen Minh Phuong, a club-mate of Tai Em's, admitted that he and his team-mates had even been invited to the wedding. "Everyone has been invited, even coach Riedl, but we are busy as we have a match. But we are hoping to offer him a present -- a place in the semi-finals." Just a week ago maverick midfielder Datsakorn Thonglao shocked his Thailand teammates ahead of their crunch Asian Cup game with heavyweights Australia by skipping training to get married. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse.