Việt Nam U20 team at the 2023 AFC U20 Asian Cup finals. Photo toquoc.vn

Football

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Football Federation (VFF) has decided to send the Vietnamese U20 team to attend the Asian Games (ASIAD) 2023 for the first time in Vietnamese sports history.

VFF decided at the VFF’s Executive Committee meeting held in Hà Nội on Wednesday.

According to the VFF, the reason for not sending the U23 team to the ASIAD but sending U20 players is that younger players need to compete internationally to develop.

The VFF said: “The conference agreed to send the national men's U20 team to attend the ASIAD from September 23 to October 8, 2023, in Hangzhou, China and participate in the 2023 AFF U23 Championship. These are preparation steps for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 33 in 2025 and the next plans of Vietnamese football."

At the 2018 ASIAD in Indonesia, the Vietnamese U23 team led by South Korean coach Park Hang-seo finished fourth place. This was Việt Nam's highest achievement at the Asian Games.

By sending the U20 team to the upcoming ASIAD, the VFF has shown that they are aiming for long-term development instead of short-term achievements.

At the Asian event in China, the organising board decided for men's football teams to use players under 24 years old instead of U23 as usual, and at the same time, keep three overage players. The Vietnamese U20 team may be the youngest team in the tournament.

U20 Việt Nam, under coach Hoàng Anh Tuấn, recently competed at the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup finals. Although they did not pass the group stage, they had two victories against their strong opponents, Australia and Qatar, and one loss to Uzbekistan.

According to the experts, the Vietnamese U20 players are very promising and can play important roles in the senior national team in the future. That is also why the VFF wants to invest in these young players. VNS