The Vietnam U-23 football squad to compete in the forthcoming Southeast Asian Games in Laos has been agreed by head coach Henrique Calisto.

The Portuguese coach selected 22 players for Vietnam ’s assault on the title.

Calisto delayed his selection and characteristically made some controversial choices in his squad.

The Vietnam squad includes seven defenders, nine midfielders, four forwards and two goalkeepers.

Calisto revealed that he had delayed his squad selection because of the difficulty in choosing players on a case-by-case basis. He said the five players left behind had been unlucky as they weren’t any worse than the selected squad, and it was a matter of cutting the squad size down to fit the allowed squad size for the competition in Laos .

Calisto said his decision was made not just for the forthcoming tournament, but could contribute towards future success in the next SEA Games as 10 of the 22 players would still be young enough.

The 52-year-old wants to give more chances to younger players, “if two players are pretty much the same standard-wise, I will choose the younger player as I want to develop the next generation of Vietnamese players, whether I’m head coach or not.”

Calisto also surprised commentators by only selecting only two goalkeepers. He explained that the chances of both goalies getting injured at the same time were extremely unlikely. If it did happen he would be able to call up an additional goalkeeper any way according to regulations.

Vietnam team will leave for Laos on Nov. 28, with the squad trimmed yet further to 20 names on December 1. Vietnam in group A will play arch-rivals Thailand two days later. The group also includes East Timor, Malaysia and Cambodia./.