Vietnam set target of defending SE Asia throne

Vietnam will try to defend their trophy at the 2020 AFF Championship, which is Southeast Asia’s football championship tournament, and advance to the third Asian qualifying round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to a Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) executive.

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The VFF and head coach Park Hang Seo attended a meeting to discuss Vietnamese football’s targets for this year in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Among the attendees were the coaching staff of the Vietnamese national men’s football team and the national council of coaches.

All present wore medical face masks because of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), said Le Hoai Anh, general secretary of the VFF.

Sixteen COVID-19 patients have been confirmed in Vietnam but all of them have fully recovered.

Plans on training and competitions for the men’s team this year topped the agenda of the meeting.

All resources will be allocated to the senior squad as the U22 and U23 teams have no major campaigns in the remainder of 2020.

The men’s team will play in two very important tournaments, namely the 2020 AFF Championship in November-December and the second Asian qualifying round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Vietnam eye the 2020 AFF Championship title, which they claimed in 2008 and 2018, and a spot in the third Asian qualifying round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Anh told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper after the meeting.

Park will request necessary assistance from the VFF regarding the coaching staff, doctors, and overseas training trips in order to achieve the targets.

Vietnam are invincible in Group G in the second Asian qualifying round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with 11 points from five matches, followed by Malaysia on nine, Thailand on eight, and the UAE – who have played four games – on six points.  

They will clash with hosts Malaysia on March 31, visitors Indonesia on June 4, and hosts the UAE on June 9.

Park’s men will move to Binh Duong Province, just outside Ho Chi Minh City, for training on March 21.

Vietnam will play a friendly with Kyrgyzstan at Go Dau Stadium in Thu Dau Mot City, the capital of Binh Duong, on March 26.

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