Vietnamese midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai seen at the AFC U23 Championship 2018.(Source: baomoi.com) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamesemidfielder Nguyen Quang Hai’s goal in the final between Vietnam and Uzbekistanin the AFC U23 Championship 2018 has been selected as one of the event's eightmost iconic goals ever by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
As the AFC U23 ChampionshipThailand 2020 kicks off in just a few weeks, the AFC has picked eight ofthe finest goals in the competition since the first edition in Omanin 2014.
According to the AFC website,while Uzbekistan won the tournament, Hai captured the imagination and his'Rainbow in the Snow' in the final – one of five superb goals by the midfielder– provided one of the most iconic moments the competition has ever seen.
Despite finishing second place inthe event last year, reaching the final was a historic landmark for Vietnamesefootball.
Besides Hai’s goal, the AFC alsochose a goal from Zakaria Al Sudani of Saudi Arabia in a game againstUzbekistan in the group stage in the AFC event in 2014.
The other six goals were scoredby Abdelkarim Hassan of Qatar (2016), Ahmed Al Sarori of Yemen(2016), Mahdi Torabi of Iran (2016), Omar Maanasrah of Jordan (2016), ShoyaNakajima of Japan (2016) and Azizjon Ganiev of Uzbekistan (2018).
Vietnam’s U23 football teamarrived the Republic of Korea on December 14, beginning a 10-day trainingcamp in preparation for the AFC U23 Championship in January.
The team will have two friendlymatches with Korean teams during the camp.
They will return home on December 22 and gather in HCM City for furthertraining before leaving for Thailand for the finals of the AFC U23Championship, which is set to take place from January 8 to 26 next year inThailand.
Vietnam are in Group D with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Jordanand the UAE.
The three best teams of the tournament, along with Japan, will represent Asiaat the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. If hosts Japan are among the three best teams,the fourth-placed team will earn the last Olympic spot./.
VNA
