HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese goalkeeper Bùi Tiến Dũng and midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải were mentioned from the AFC U-23 Championship (best XI) team by the prestigious website foxsportsasia.com.

Dũng proved his excellent ability of catching the ball in the tournament, in which Việt Nam claimed the silver medal after losing 2-1 to Uzbekistan in the last minute during extra time, in the finals on January 27 in China.

Vietnamese goalkeeper Bùi Tiến Dũng. — Photo vietbao.vn

“When looking at the keepers who are likely to go on and make strong careers outside of their homeland, it’s more logical to peg the likes of Qatar’s Mohammed Al-Bakari, Uzbek Botirali Ergashev or Korea Republic’s Kang Hyeon-mu. But in terms of coming up big when it most mattered, none were as consistent as the Thanh Hóa man,” the website said.

“It’s his slight frame and height that will hamper him at the next level but in terms of pure shot-stopping ability, he’s right up there with the best at the tournament and he was obviously outstanding in the back-to-back penalty shootout wins that saw Việt Nam reach the finals,” the website added.

The foxsportsasia.com also praised Hải as a great midfielder. Hải showed an outstanding mentality and belief to come up with some massive goals when the games were really on the line, and with Nguyễn Công Phượng largely isolated up front, almost all of the attack ran through the brilliant right-sided Hà Nội FC man.

U23 Việt Nam team Lương Xuân Trường. — Photo vnecdn.net

Besides Dũng and Hải, the website also chose captain of U23 Việt Nam team Lương Xuân Trường as a midfielder in the substitute line-up.

Other official positions of the best formation of the AFC event were midfielders Matthew Davies of Malaysia, Seo Young-jae of South Korea, halfbacks Dostonbek Tursunov of Uzbekistan and Gao Zhunyi of China, as well as strikers Zabikhillo Urinboev of Uzbekistan and Almoez Ali of Qatar. 

Besides the best XI, the website selected three most outstanding performers to be awarded the Golden, Silver and Bronze Balls.

Vietnamese midfielder Hải received the Silver Ball. The golden ball went to Akram Afif of Qatar, while the Bronze Ball belonged to Zabikhillo Urinboev of Uzbekistan. — VNS