Nguyen Manh selected for King's Cup

Due to the gathering close to the match day, there is not much time to practice and screen personnel, Coach Park Hang-seo summoned most of the players who have worked with him in recent years.

Notably absent is Bui Tien Dung, the goalkeeper who has accompanied Coach Park in every tournament since he came to Vietnam in late 2017. The Hanoi FC goalkeeper has rarely played recently. He was on the bench for the first nine rounds of the V-League, and was used in the last two rounds but conceded four goals.

Among the three goalkeepers called up, Tran Nguyen Manh is a special name. He used to be the number one goalkeeper in the national team, but after making a mistake and receiving a red card in the second leg of the AFF Cup 2016 semi-final against Indonesia, he lost his position. Returning to the national team, Nguyen Manh is not sure to have the opportunity to start when Dang Van Lam is playing steadily and receiving high praise from coach Park Hang-seo. Nguyen Manh also faces competition from Nguyen Van Toan, a young goalkeeper who is playing very well for Hai Phong.

Nguyen Tuan Anh is also a special return.. The talented midfielder of HAGL returned to the national team for the first time after a serious injury before the AFF Cup 2016. His teammate at the club, Vu Van Thanh, was also called up despite having just returned from injury and played a full match in this year's V-League.

On the attacking front, lacking players, Coach Park persuaded Nguyen Anh Duc to return. The Binh Duong striker, after winning the AFF Cup 2018, announced his retirement from the national team and will not participate in the Asian Cup 2019. Ha Duc Chinh, who is playing with an injury, was also present.

Besides Dang Van Lam (Muangthong United), two other players playing abroad were also recalled: midfielder Luong Xuan Truong (Buriam United) and Nguyen Cong Phuong (Incheon United).

To prepare for the King's Cup, Coach Park Hang-seo has been monitoring a series of overseas Vietnamese players such as Mac Hong Quan, Martin Lo, Adriano Schmidt, Alex Dang... However, when finalizing the list, the Korean coach did not call anyone. This time, the Vietnamese team did not have the strongest force. Coach Park Hang-seo could not call up some players that he highly appreciated such as Do Duy Manh, Phan Van Duc, Nguyen Hoang Duc... because they had not fully recovered.

Vietnam team will move to Bangkok on the morning of June 1st., then wait until the afternoon to fly domestically to Buriam, where the King's Cup 2019 will take place. Coach Park Hang-seo and his team will have three training sessions before facing Thailand at 7:45 p.m. on June 5 to compete for a ticket to the final with the winner of the match between India and Curacao.

Thailand is the number one football nation in Southeast Asia with five AFF Cup championships and 16 SEA Games gold medals. However, in the past two years under the leadership of coach Park Hang-seo, Vietnamese football has risen to become the leading flag in the region with achievements such as winning the silver medal at the AFC U23 Championship, reaching the semi-finals of the Asian Games, winning the AFF Cup and reaching the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup. At the end of March, Vietnam continued to make a splash when they defeated Thailand 4-0 in the AFC U23 Championship qualifiers.

Witnessing the progress of Vietnamese football, the Golden Temple team really wants to reunite with Coach Park Hang-seo and his team soon, so they invited them to participate in the King's Cup 2019. Coach Sirisak Yodyardthai said he will defeat his opponent to show football fans who is number one in Southeast Asia.