Coach Gong Oh-kyun (central) will lead the U23 team at the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Championship. Photo VFF

Football

HÀ NỘI — Coach Gong Oh-kyun has announced the 25 players that have been selected for the final round of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Asian Championship, which will take place in Uzbekistan from June 1 to June 19.

Several players who competed at SEA Games 31 have been selected as key members of the team, including goalkeeper Nguyễn Văn Toản, defenders Hoàng Việt Anh and Lê Thanh Bình, midfielders Lý Công Hoàng Anh, Lê Văn Đô and strikers Nguyễn Văn Tùng, Nhâm Mạnh Dũng.

The team also include outstanding faces who were highly rated during the training camp held in Hà Nội, namely Nguyễn Thanh Nhân, Võ Đình Lâm of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, Hà Trung Hậu of Becamex Bình Dương, Khuất Văn Khang and Trần Danh Trung of Viettel, Lê Minh Bình of People's Police and Nguyễn Văn Trường of Hà Nội.

The Vietnamese team gathered on Tuesday before their flight to the UAE to train ahead of the AFC U23 games. During the training period, the team will have a friendly match against U23 UAE on May 28.

The team will then fly to Uzbekistan on May 29 to compete at the AFC U23 Asian Championship finals.

The AFC event will feature 16 teams. The opening game will start on June 1 and the tournament will finish on June 19.

The tournament was initially scheduled to be held in January but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be the fifth edition of the tournament.

The 16 teams have been drawn into four groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockouts.

Việt Nam are in Group C alongside Thailand, Malaysia, and South Korea, the 2020 champions.

Việt Nam will face Thailand on June 2, South Korea on June 5 and they will finish their group qualification with the match against Malaysia on June 8. — VNS