Vietnam U23 Team and the heavy "test" before SEA Games 2015

According to the announcement from VFF, the teams of Thailand, Indonesia and Uzbekistan are the "blue troops" of the Vietnam U23 team before the upcoming U23 Asia qualifiers and SEA Games.

Looking at the list of international friendlies recently announced by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), it can be seen that the opponents that the Vietnam U23 team has chosen are all heavyweight "tests" to help coach Toshiya Miura select and bring out the most satisfactory squad for the U23 Asian qualifying campaign in Malaysia next March and then the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore in June.

According to the draw results of the qualifying round of the U23 continental tournament, Coach Miura and his team will be in Group I with Japan, Macau (China) and host Malaysia. Coach Miura and his team will meet Malaysia on March 27, then Japan 2 days later, and finally Macau (China) on March 31.

Sharing his comments on Group I, Coach Toshiya Miura said: “We can easily see that Japan will be the number 1 candidate for the top spot in the group. Malaysia, with the home advantage, is also rated higher than the U23 Vietnam team, followed by the remaining team - Macau (China). Personally, I always want to achieve the best results when participating in any tournament. Therefore, the goal of the U23 Vietnam team is nothing other than striving to win 1 of the 2 leading positions to continue.”

VFF is working with Coach Miura to build a thorough preparation plan for the U23 Asian Qualifiers and SEA Games 2015.

According to the tournament rules, the top 10 teams in each group and the 5 best second-placed teams will qualify for the final round in Qatar in 2016, and the top 3 teams in the final round will represent Asia at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Therefore, if they achieve good results against Malaysia and Macau (China), the chance for U23 Vietnam to pass the qualifying round is not small.

It can be seen that VFF has carefully calculated before issuing invitations to play friendly matches with opponents of equal caliber to the teams in Group I in the U23 Asian qualifiers so that U23 Vietnam will have the best preparation for the tournament.

Specifically, Uzbekistan is a team that is always considered to be the "upper hand", on par with Japan, while Thailand is a "tough" opponent like Malaysia in Southeast Asia and Indonesia is basically no different from Macau (China) - representatives that can be considered "dark horses" that create surprises in matches.

In particular, except for Uzbekistan which can be considered superior, Thailand and Indonesia will be interesting and necessary tests for U23 Vietnam when coach Miura "competes with his colleagues Kiatisuk Senamuang and Alfred Riedl".

Vietnam U23 team will play friendly matches with strong opponents

If the Japanese coach is no longer too unfamiliar with former Vietnam national team head coach Alfred Riedl after Vietnam drew 2-2 with Indonesia in the group stage of the AFF Cup 2014, the "competition of wits" with his colleague Kiatisuk Senamuang promises to be quite difficult.

Having been closely involved with Vietnamese football for many years and having a thorough understanding of both his role as a player and coach, Kiatisuk Senamuang is the youngest strategist who has achieved the most success in the region, leading the Thai national team to win the 2013 SEA Games and recently winning the AFF Cup for the first time in 12 years.

According to the plan, Coach Miura will finalize the list of players to be called up to the Vietnam U23 team before the Lunar New Year holiday. After that, Coach Miura and his team will gather in Hanoi on February 24 and have their first friendly match against Indonesia U23 at My Dinh Stadium on March 7.

Four days later, U23 Vietnam will travel to Ho Chi Minh City to prepare for a friendly match with U23 Uzbekistan (March 14). After the match, Coach Miura and his team will train in Binh Duong before leaving for Thailand for a friendly match on March 22.

To prepare for the first gathering of the Vietnam U23 team, Coach Toshiya Miura has been actively watching matches in the V-League to select the best players. In this 6th round, Coach Miura will go to Pleiku for the first time to watch the "legs" of Cong Phuong and teammates such as Tuan Anh and Xuan Truong./.

According to VOV