Vietnam U.22's match schedule

Báo Thanh niên•03/09/2024

Effort in every match

Due to head coach Kim Sang-sik's commitments leading the national team in preparation for the LPBank Cup 2024 international friendly tournament, assistant coach Dinh Hong Vinh was chosen as the interim head coach of the Vietnam U22 team participating in the tournament in China. Speaking before the opening match against the host team China, the coach, who has experience in many youth tournaments, stated that the U22 team had only been training for two days before departing for the tournament. However, this is not a major obstacle as the players have spent a long time playing and developing together at various youth levels.

"The quality of the teams participating in this friendly tournament in China is very good, so this is a valuable opportunity for young Vietnamese players to gain experience and develop. The matches will not be easy, but I sense determination and confidence in the players. We will do our best, united in spirit, to achieve the set goals," said coach Dinh Hong Vinh.

The coaching staff of the Vietnam U.22 team also hopes that this tournament will help discover outstanding players to strengthen the Vietnam U.23 team as well as the Vietnam national team for important tournaments in 2025.

Lịch thi đấu của U.22 Việt Nam - Trung Quốc hôm nay: Thầy Kim ‘hóng’ kết quả- Ảnh 1. — The Vietnam U.22 players are training in China.

Yesterday, the Vietnam U22 team trained to familiarize themselves with the Helong Sport Center, where they will play their opening match against host China. Young Vietnamese football stars such as Nguyen Thai Son, Nguyen Dinh Bac, Nguyen Quoc Viet, and Nguyen Thanh Nhan are likely to be given a chance to play in the first match against China U22 by coach Dinh Hong Vinh and are expected to perform well. Given the nature of a friendly tournament, the coaching staff of the Vietnam U22 team is also increasing experimentation, giving many players opportunities to hone their skills.

We need to invest well in the U.22 generation.

Former central defender Luu Ngoc Hung said that the international friendly tournament in China, with the participation of teams considered to be of higher quality and professional level than the Vietnamese U22 team, such as the host team China, Uzbekistan, and the "suitable" team Malaysia, is a valuable opportunity for the Vietnamese U22 team to gain experience and assess their strength. After the tournament, the VFF will develop a suitable investment strategy to aim for tasks in 2025 such as the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand, the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, etc.

"In recent times, Vietnamese football has had many teams simultaneously focusing on various tasks such as the national team, U.20, and U.16, but the U.22 team still lacks opportunities to compete internationally, and their training time is short. The U.22 team is considered the next generation for the national team, and investing in this generation is crucial for Vietnamese football to have a continuous succession. Many people know familiar faces in the current U.22 generation such as Thai Son, Dinh Bac, Thanh Nhan, and Quoc Viet, but I haven't yet found a truly outstanding player," Mr. Luu Ngoc Hung expressed.

Lịch thi đấu của U.22 Việt Nam - Trung Quốc hôm nay: Thầy Kim ‘hóng’ kết quả- Ảnh 2.

Football commentator Huynh Sang also shared: "Actually, for Vietnamese football, the U.22 age group is extremely important and must be invested in and carefully nurtured to find gems for the national team. Therefore, in parallel with the national team's friendly matches, we also need to pay attention to the friendly tournament in China, where the Vietnamese U.22 team is participating. We watch the U.22 team play with the mindset of 'scouting' to see how the next generation of national team talents perform, and whether there are any promising faces to add to the national team. Watching and supporting this U.22 team is also a way to give them more motivation. I remember when Nguyen Tien Linh and the Vietnamese U.22 team beat China, it helped the U.22 team, and later the national team, gain more confidence when facing strong opponents in international tournaments. The U.22 players also take to the field with a desire to show their full potential and achieve good results so that they can be selected by the coaches for the national team."

Sharing the same view as Mr. Luu Ngoc Hung that the current U22 Vietnam team lacks promising new faces, commentator Huynh Sang wants to see the growth and renewal of the young players. "The paradox of Vietnamese football compared to international standards is that U22 players have few opportunities to compete at the highest level. At their clubs, they struggle to compete with experienced senior players and receive little trust from coaches. Therefore, if a country has a strong football foundation, when assembling national teams, they only need a few days to assemble a team for matches. However, the unique characteristic of Vietnamese football is that it requires long training camps to achieve fluency and maintain consistent performance. Hopefully, the VFF will have a sound investment strategy, creating more opportunities for international matches against quality opponents so that the young players become increasingly strong," Mr. Sang said.

Vietnam U.22's opening match will be at 6:35 PM today (September 4th), against the host team China.