Asian Cup 2019: Vietnamese stars compete with continental stars

Quang Hai's talent is now recognized not only by domestic experts and media but also beyond national borders. In the success of the Vietnam national team at the AFF Cup 2018, Quang Hai played an extremely important role, always being in the official lineup from the beginning of the match. In the second leg of the final, Quang Hai was the one who created the only goal for Anh Duc against Malaysia. He was also voted the best player of the AFF Cup 2018.

2018 - Quang Hai's year

Quang Hai will compete on equal terms with young stars from the continent. Photo: Trung Kien

Many media agencies from Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Korea... all advised this player to go abroad to play to further develop. It was quite surprising with the number of 60 matches that this 21-year-old player played in a whole year (from December 15, 2017 to December 15, 2018), an average of 5 days/match.

Specifically, in V-League 2018, Quang Hai played 24 matches, AFF Cup 2018 8 matches, Asiad 2018 7 matches, U23 Asian Cup 6 matches, National Cup 6 matches, friendly matches with Vietnam national team 4 matches, U23 friendly matches: 3 matches, Asian Cup qualifier 1 match and M150 Cup 1 match. In those 60 matches, Quang Hai scored 20 goals including 9 goals in V-League, 3 in AFF Cup, 2 in Asiad, 5 in U23 Asian Cup, 1 in National Cup.

Regional sports journalists believe that the 2019 Asian Cup is a playground for Quang Hai to surpass his peers and introduce himself to big clubs in Asia. Perhaps the star of the capital team will have a new destination after a successful year.

Roll call of continental talent

Competing with Quang Hai is Supachai (22) - the Thai national team player who played relatively well in the AFF Cup 2018, including the opening goal in the 1-1 draw between Thailand and the Philippines. Although only 19 years old, Supachai has a lot of experience thanks to playing for Buriram Utd. Supachai also scored two goals at the 18th Asian Games, although the Thai Olympic team was eliminated right after the group stage.

Next is Doan Ritsu (Japan), a midfielder born in 1998 with a modern style of football from the Land of the Rising Sun and played excellently in the U-19 Asian Cup final two years ago in Bahrain, the tournament where Vietnam U-19 won a ticket to the U-20 World Cup. He was the main factor contributing to the championship with Japan U19. After that, Doan Ritsu joined Groningen Club (the highest championship in the Netherlands) and will be on the Japanese national team to play in the 2019 Asian Cup.

Young Thai player Supachai is being trusted by coach Milovan Rajevac. Photo: Internet

South Korea U-19 international Hwang In-beom, who plays as an attacking midfielder, was first called up by Portugal coach Bento to the South Korean national team for the Asian Cup to play as a midfielder for Daejeon Citizen in K League 2. He scored his first goal in his league debut against Pohang on May 30, becoming the youngest player in Daejeon Citizen's history to score.

The young Vietnamese players and Quang Hai will have the opportunity to meet again 20-year-old midfielder Oday Dabbagh (Palestine) who has played 15 matches for Hilal Al-Qud Club. The striker has faced the U-23 Vietnam Mam team many times in friendly matches in China when this team came to the U-23 Asia. Oday Dabbagh also played very well at the Asian Cup when he was in the same group A with host Indonesia and defeated them. Oday is a fast, strong but very technical striker.

In particular, Quang Hai will face young player Mohanad Ali (Iraq), born in 2000, who is playing for the Iraqi Premier League club Al-Shorta. The striker has scored many goals for Iraq U-19. Because Iraq is in the same group with Vietnam, Iran, and Yemen in the 2019 Asian Cup, we will witness an interesting confrontation.

Many of the young players mentioned above, being called up to the national team for the first time, do not have many opportunities to play. Therefore, all attention will be on Quang Hai and Thai player Supachai, excellent representatives of the young players of the two countries.

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