From left: The head coaches of Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Brunei pose for a photo at the press conference in Hanoi on March 21 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam, Brunei, Thailand, andIndonesia have demonstrated their readiness and confidence in the qualifiers ofthe 2020 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship.
They are in all Group K of the tournament’squalifying round, which will kick off in Hanoi on March 22.
At a press conference on March 21, Vietnam’shead coach Park Hang-seo said he faced certain difficulties in assessingplayers’ capabilities due to the short training period.
Vietnam is the runner-up of the 2018 AFC U23championship, but that was the past and players have to focus on the upcoming 2020tourney, he said, adding that those on the current team have too littleexperience at international tournaments, even domestic ones like V.League.There is a capacity gap between the current players and the squad at theprevious championship who were more experienced.
However, the whole team are determined to obtainthe best results in the qualifying round, he noted.
Head coach for Brunei Stephen Ng Heng Seng saidhe learned in detail about the Vietnamese squad and his team will make the utmostefforts to limit the strength of the host. Brunei has made the bestpreparations possible for the qualifiers, with all 23 of their players nowready for the upcoming matches.
Meanwhile, head coach for Thailand AlexandreGama congratulated Vietnam on its recent football achievements and progress. Hesaid Vietnam has become a team that all others want to compete with.
He expressed his belief that with thefoundations Thai football has attained so far, his team will perform well atthis qualifying round.
Indra Sjafri, head coach of Indonesia, said histeam is aiming to make it through the qualifying round, so they have also beenclosely preparing for the qualifiers.
Matches for Group K will take place at My DinhNational Stadium in Hanoi from March 22 to 26. Vietnam will face Brunei onMarch 22, Indonesia on March 24, and Thailand on March 26.
The biennial tournament has attracted 44 teamswhich have been divided into 11 groups of four. The top 16 teams will qualifyfor the finals in Thailand next year. –VNA
VNA
