U19 Vietnam sets "modest" goal at U22 Southeast Asian tournament

At exactly 12:30 pm on August 6 at Tan Son Nhat airport, 22 U19 Vietnam players and their coaching staff boarded a plane to Singapore. Here, the team will transit for six hours before continuing to fly to Brunei. The team is expected to arrive in the neighboring country late tonight.

Vietnam U19 before the final match of the Southeast Asian U19 tournament with Indonesia more than a year ago. (Photo: Getty)

Speaking to the press before departure, head coach Graechen Guillaume revealed: “We have entered the tournament so we have to think about winning. The opponents may be three years older than us, but that is not important. U19 Vietnam will try to reach at least the semi-finals before thinking further.

I also hope that the players whose names are not on the list this time will continue to practice hard. They must always be ready if they are called to join the U19 Vietnam squad in the preparation campaign for the 2014 U19 Asian Cup.”

After arriving in Brunei, U19 Vietnam will have two days to prepare before taking the field against U21 Singapore on August 9.

Also related to the preparation campaign of U19 Vietnam, the General Assembly meeting of the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) yesterday decided on two important issues. Firstly, AFF agreed to choose Nutifood as the main sponsor of the U19 Southeast Asian tournament in Vietnam next September. The official name of the tournament will be the U19 Southeast Asian Football Open Tournament - Nutifood Cup 2014.

Second, AFF has not yet found a general consensus on whether to allow Japan U19 to change groups in this tournament. The Japanese do not want their team to be in the same group as Vietnam U19 because the two teams are rivals in the U19 Asian tournament. The issue is still being debated and the final decision from AFF will be made this week./.

According to VNA