Vietnam U23s convene first training session in Thailand

On January 2, Vietnam’s U23 team commenced their training session in Thailand to prepare for the upcoming 2020 AFC U23 Championship, with all the players demonstrating great efforts and high concentration seeking to claim a place in Park Hang-seo’s final 23-man squad for the continental campaign.

Friday, January 03, 2020 04:17

Head coach Park Hang-seo talks with the players ahead of their training session in Thailand on January 2.

According to the rules of the tournament, participating teams must submit their 23-player lists to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ten days before the kick-off, in order to ensure the timely implementation of procedures related to the organisation work.

These lists have already been published on the AFC website, with defender Tran Dinh Trong and forward Nham Manh Dung having been deducted from Park’s initial 25-player squad. This came as little surprise because at the time of sending the list to the AFC, the coaching staff referred to the health status and performance of the players to make choices.

Dinh Trong has just resumed training after a long period of recovery from injury, so he is rather disadvantageous compared to other players in the same position. Meanwhile, Manh Dung is a young player who is being watched and nurtured for the future goals.

However, this does not mean that Dinh Trong and Manh Dung are permanently kept outside the race for an official place in Vietnam’s final squad to the 2020 AFC U23 Championship, as the deadline for teams to make changes to their 23-man squad is just six hours before their opening clash.

Vietnam U23s players in action during their Thursday training session in Thailand.

Therefore, from now until their Group D opener on January 10, coach Park Hang-seo still can make necessary personnel adjustments to ensure the best-form players are granted the chance to participate in the AFC campaign.

Answering reporters’ queries ahead of yesterday’s training session, Vietnam midfielder Tran Anh Son said the whole team are adapting very well to the weather conditions in Thailand, stating that the players are working hard to be chosen by Park for the final squad.

As scheduled, Vietnam U23s will play a friendly match against Bahrain U23s this afternoon. According to Thanh Son, the clash will act as a test for the coaching staff to use in deciding the best choices for the Vietnam squad.

Given its significance to both teams, the friendly will be played behind closed doors, without the presence of either spectators or reporters.

Here following are some pictures of the Vietnamese team’s first training session in Thailand: