Coach Park to choose 35 players for U23 team hinh anh 1National head coach Park Hang-seo (second right) seen at the meeting with the Vietnam Football Federation onNovember 20 (Photo: vff.org.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) — National head coach Park Hang-seo will convene 35 players for the U23 team on December 1 to prepare for the final round of the 2018 AFC U23 Championship.

Most of them will be players wearing jerseys of the U19, U20, U22, U23 and national team.

The finals will take place between January 9-27 next year in four Chinese cities, namely Changzhou, Kunshan, Jiangyin and Changshu. A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the event, including China who qualified automatically as hosts.

Vietnam are in Group D of the final round alongside 2016 runners-up the Republic of Korea, as well as Australia and Syria. According to Park, the U23 event will be a fierce competition, so Vietnam need to prepare very carefully in training so they’re at their best in terms of skills and physical strength.

To prepare for the AFC event, Vietnam will hone their skills via the M-150 international friendly tournament held in Thailand on December 9-15 in which Vietnam are grouped with U23 Myanmar and Uzbekistan.

After this event, Vietnam will have a friendly match with the RoK’s Ulsan Huyndai club, who are fourth at the K-League Classic 2017, in Hanoi on December 21.

Park said the match with Ulsan Huyndai is very necessary for Vietnam to prepare for the game with the RoK in the final of AFC U23 event.-VNA
VNA