The Vietnam Olympic team gathers heading towards ASIAD 19
Today (September 7), the Vietnam Olympic team under the guidance of head coach Hoang Anh Tuan will begin to gather and practice at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center to prepare for ASIAD 19.
08/09/2023 11:23:39
Following the orientation of the VFF on developing young players, just like the last time they attended the 2023 AFF U23 Championship, the team’s force will continue to give priority to players from the U20 age group to increase the opportunity to compete and gain experience for the next generation of the National Team in the future.
However, due to quite a few Olympic players joining the U23 Vietnam national team playing in the 2024 U23 Asian Qualifiers as well as the constraints in the regulations of the ASIAD 19 Organizing Committee on registration of the preliminary list (each team is allowed to Register a maximum of 30 players and must submit 4 months in advance), so coach Hoang Anh Tuan does not have many options to expand like when participating in the Southeast Asia tournament. Typically, the case of “strange bird” Nguyen Minh Quang played very well at the recent U23 AFF Championship, but will not be able to attend ASIAD because his name is not on the preliminary list registered with the ASIAD organizers according to procedure 4 months ago as regulation.
Because half of the squad will only reunite after the 2023 U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers on September 12, the Vietnam Olympic team will only have about 4 days to practice with a full squad before traveling to China for ASIAD 19 on September 16. In China, coach Hoang Anh Tuan will have 2 more days to complete the final preparations before entering the opening match on September 19.
During the first phase of training at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center, the Vietnam Olympic team had only 12 players, including goalkeeper Do Sy Huy, Quan Van Chuan, defender Tran Nam Hai, Le Nguyen Hoang, Nguyen Manh Hung, midfielder Nguyen Phi Hoang, Nguyen Duc Viet, Nguyen Cong Phuong, Dinh Xuan Tien, striker Nguyen Quoc Viet, Vo Nguyen Hoang and Nham Manh Dung. Among these, goalkeeper Do Sy Huy and striker Nham Manh Dung are two players over 23 years old registered according to the provisions of the Regulation. The remaining group of players will be called up after the end of the 2024 AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifier and the 2023 U21 National Championship Qualifier.
Because the schedules of international tournaments are intertwined, the Vietnam Olympic team does not have much time to prepare for ASIAD 19. However, coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s advantage is that he has a force with many players who have joined with him at the recent Southeast Asia tournament.
There are a total of 23 teams participating in men’s football at ASIAD 19 and are divided into 6 groups (5 groups of 4 teams and 1 group of 3 teams). Teams will compete in a round-robin format to calculate ranking points in each group. The two winner and runner-up teams in each group and the four third-placed teams with the best performance in the six groups will have the right to continue to the round of 16.
Group stage matches will take place from September 19 to September 24. Round of 16 takes place on September 26 and 27. The Quarterfinals were held on September 30. The semi-finals take place on October 3. The bronze and gold medal match took place on October 7.
