In a letter sent to President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Le Khanh Hai, the AFC official expressed his delight and asked the VFF boss to convey his congratulations to the entire coaching staff and players of the team.
“The performances of the Vietnamese players in the qualifiers were so amazing. I myself believe that this generation of young talented players will write a new page for Asian football in the future,” Dato’ Windsor John said.
He also wished Vietnam U23s good luck and best results in next year’s AFC U23 Championship in Thailand.
The 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers wrapped up on March 26, with the winners of the 15 tickets to the finals having been confirmed, including the 11 group winners – Qatar (Group A), Bahrain (Group B), Iraq (Group C), UAE (Group D), Jordan (Group E), Uzbekistan (Group F), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (Group G), the Republic of Korea (Group H), Japan (Group I), China (Group J) and Vietnam (Group K) – and the four best second-placed teams – Australia (Group H), Iran (Group C), Syria (Group E) and Saudi Arabia (Group D). As the host team, Thailand have earned a wild card to the final tournament.
Vietnam U23s were among the three teams to have both secured three consecutive wins and kept a clean sheet throughout the qualification campaign, alongside Japan and Bahrain.
The 2020 AFC U23 Championship finals is scheduled to take place from January 8 to 26 in Thailand. The top three teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic men’s football event as the AFC representatives. As Japan have already qualified as the host team for next year’s Olympic Games, if they reach the semi-finals at the Asian U23 Championship, the other semi-finalists are guaranteed qualification even before the phase commences.
