Head coach Hoang Anh Tuan (Photo: VFF)
Hanoi (VNA) – Despite competing with a very young squad, Vietnam still want a spot in the finals of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) U23 Championship, said head coach Hoang Anh Tuan.
Speaking at a press conference on August 17 on the eve of the tournament, Tuan said the Vietnamese team is made up of a lot of young players and only three 22-year-olds. The majority are 18 – 20 years old and even one 17-year-old. This aligns with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF)'s goal of creating a platform to groom younger players, thus selecting the best qualified for the U23 national team to play at the 2024 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers in September this year.
The team will also represent Vietnam at the 19th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Hangzhou, China, in September.
The AFF U23 Championship will be an opportunity for young players to sharpen their skills, strengthen their competitiveness and earn international experience, Tuan said.
“I want my young players challenged and to pick up experience in this tournament,” he said. “We hope the whole team will have good performance in the tournament. Our target is to advance to the final match,” the head coach affirmed.
In the AFF U23 Championship 2022 in Cambodia, Vietnam secured the title after winning all four matches, scoring 16 goals and conceding none.
This year, Vietnam is in Group C together with the Philippines and Laos.
The Vietnamese team and their head coach Hoang Anh Tuan arrived in Bangkok on August 14 to prepare for the tournament.
In a friendly match against Bahrain’s U23 team on August 15 in Bangkok, the Vietnamese squad lost 3-5 in the shootout after a 1-1 draw in the official competition time.
This year’s edition attracted the participation of 10 teams, divided into three groups, of which Group A consists of Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, and Myanmar; while Group B consists of Timor-Leste, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
The teams are to play in the round-robin format. The three top teams in the groups and the best second-place squad will compete in the semi-finals.
It will be the fourth edition of the AFF U23 Championship after those in 2005, 2019 and 2022.
As scheduled, Vietnam’s U23 team will play against their Lao rivals on August 20 and will face the Philippines two days later.
Earlier, the VFF decided to establish two U23 national teams for different missions.
One team will participate in the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024 qualifiers, while the other will compete in two tournaments, namely the 19th Asia Games (ASIAD 19) and the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) U23 Championship 2023.
The decision was part of a plan to develop a strong pool of players for the national men’s football team, aiming at long-term goals, while also taking into consideration the schedule of international tournaments in 2023.
The team that will compete at the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024 qualifiers will gather the best players in the U23 age group, to be led by coach Philippe Troussier.
The best players will be selected to the national team for the second round of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers which will commence in November this year.
Meanwhile, the other team will consist of core players from the U20 age group, and some U23 players. They will play under the guidance of coach Hoang Anh Tuan./.
