Midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải was named one of two best players of Việt Nam at the Asian U23 Football Championship in Thailand in January. Photo toquoc.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese footballers midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải and striker Nguyễn Tiến Linh have been named the country’s best players from the U23 Championship in Thailand.

Việt Nam came to the tournament as one of the favourites finishing runners-up in the previous competition.

But the Southeast Asian region representative disappointed at the event and failed to qualify from the group stages.

Linh scored the only goal for Việt Nam at the tournament in the 1-2 loss to North Korea while Hải was the playmaker of the team.

The Asian Football Confederation noted that Việt Nam, under South Koren Park Hang-seo, played with the 1-3-4-3 formation in attack but it could quickly change to 1-5-4-1 when defending.

The tournament marked a milestone with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system successfully making its full debut across all 32 matches.

In the final South Korea defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 to lift the silverware. South Korea, Saudi Arabia and third-placed Australia joined Japan as Asia's representatives in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. — VNS