Vietnam U23 has a chance to earn their first 3 points.

Vietnam U23 teamHaving just secured a 3-0 victory against the Kyrgyzstan U23 team in a training camp ahead of the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers, thanks to a penalty goal from Le Van Do and a brace from Tran Van Dat, the Chinese Taipei U23 team is now facing both player and coach injuries. Meanwhile, the Chinese Taipei U22 team is in turmoil due to internal disciplinary actions.

The lack of discipline among Chinese Taipei's U23 players has long been reported in the country's press. Recently, the Taiwan Football Association (CTFA) decided to discipline six national team players for a scandal involving... all-night drinking and forgetting to register for the morning match against Indonesia in the play-off round before the 2022 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Coach Park and his team will secure their first three points on their journey to conquer the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Championship. Photo: VFF

Shortly afterwards, the CTFA issued penalties: one player was banned from the national team for six months, three others were banned for one year, and fined between 10,000 and 30,000 yuan. Defender Liang Meng-hsin and midfielder Lin Ming-wei – two U19 players recently promoted to the U23 team – received lighter penalties, a warning in front of the entire team.

Previously, since the end of August, several national team players had also left the team to go drinking, and the federation had warned coach Vom Ca-Nhum. The situation then recurred in September, leading to his suspension and the temporary coaching role being handed over to his assistant, Ye Xianzhong.

Coach Vom Ca-Nhum immediately reacted, claiming that the CTFA did not support him and the coaching staff in managing the players, thus allowing this situation to persist:“During meetings, the coaching staff addressed the players' drinking behavior and punished them from the start. But I urged the Secretary-General to send someone to assist with logistics for the whole team, but the Secretary-General always refused and refused!”"

To exert pressure, the coach expressed his frustration and announced that all members of the coaching staff would resign collectively:Except for the head coach and the foreign goalkeeper who still have long-term contracts, the remaining members of the coaching staff will resign. The coaching staff members were selected by me, and we will work together."

Coach Vom Ca-Nhum held a press conference to respond to the CTFA. Photo: CTFA

Coach Chen Jiunn-ming and his U23 players have been in Kyrgyzstan since October 15th to prepare for Group I of the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers. It is understood that the coach has brought along two players who received disciplinary warnings: Liang Meng-hsin and Lin Ming-wei.

In fact, even with a full squad, the Taipei U22 team isn't a particularly strong team. Historically, they've lost 2-0 to Laos U22, drawn 1-1 with Cambodia U23, and most recently suffered a 1-5 aggregate defeat against Indonesia in the 2023 Asian Cup play-off round.

Previously, due to the pandemic, Taiwan was ineligible to host Group I of the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, forcing the AFC to move the group to Kyrgyzstan, which significantly deprived them of their advantage. In other words, Coach Park's team easily secured their first three points on their journey to the championship.2022 AFC U23 Championship Finals./.