Vietnam U23s to play friendly with Bahrain ahead of AFC campaign

Accordingly, after returning from their training camp in the Republic of Korea (RoK), Vietnam U23s will depart straight away for Thailand on January 1, 2020 for the final competition, and take on the friendly against Bahrain two days later.

Bahrain are aspiring to progress further in the 2020 AFC U23 Championship to book a place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Therefore, the two teams are determined to take valuable experience from the clash.

Earlier, Iran U23s turned down the offer to play a friendly with the Vietnamese team in the last minute because they would like to seek an opponent of a lower caliber.

Following their friendly, Vietnam U23s will travel to Buriram, the hosting venue of their Group D fixtures at the 2020 AFC U23 Championship. There, coach Park Hang-seo will drop five players and announce his final 23-man squad for the continental campaign.

At present, Vietnam U23s are at a training camp in Tongyeong (RoK). The entire team are striving to recover to their full fitness following their intense matches at the recent 30th SEA Games in the Philippines. Some injured players, including Quang Hai, Dinh Trong and Trong Hung, are also racing against the clock to recover in time for the tournament.

The 2020 AFC U23 Championship is scheduled to take place from January 8 to 26 in Thailand. Reigning runners-up Vietnam will play their Group D opener against the United Arab Emirate on January 10 before taking on Jordan on January 13 and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on January 16.