Coach Hoang Anh Tuan affirms the goal of the Vietnam U23 team

The strategist born in 1968 said: "We have 2 weeks to prepare but in fact the national championships are still continuing so there is only 1 day when the team has all the members to practice together on August 13. We came here as the defending champion. U23 Vietnam, like other teams, brings a very young force to participate in this tournament. The teams are also interested in youth football and tournaments like this help to improve young players. I really welcome AFF (Asean Football Federation) to maintain this tournament to develop youth football in Southeast Asian countries and go further to the national team level. The force we bring to this tournament is very young with only 3 22-year-old players, most of them are 18, 19, 20 years old, especially there is a player who is only 17 years old. U23 Vietnam wants to give the young players challenges and experiences in the tournament This is the best tournament ever. We hope the whole team will have a good tournament. The team's goal is to reach the final match. With the utmost respect, we hope and wish our opponents in the same group, Laos, the Philippines and all the other teams, to compete well, have the best performance and have a successful tournament."

The 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship will take place from August 17 to August 26 in the coastal city of Rayong, Thailand. Teams will compete in a round-robin format to determine the top three teams and the best second-placed team to advance. The two semi-final winners will compete in the final, while the two semi-final losers will meet in the third-place match.

In this year's tournament, the U23 Vietnam team is in Group C with U23 Laos and U23 Philippines. Meanwhile, Group B brings together U23 Indonesia, U23 Malaysia and U23 Timor Leste. Host Thailand falls into Group A with U23 Myanmar, U23 Cambodia and U23 Brunei.

Vietnam U23 is the defending champion (crowned under the guidance of coach Dinh The Nam), while Thailand U23 is the defending runner-up of the tournament. In the 2022 final in Cambodia, Vietnam U23 defeated Thailand U23 1-0 thanks to a goal by Tran Bao Toan.

In this participation, although the Vietnam Football Federation did not set a target for the team to retain the "throne", coach Hoang Anh Tuan is determined not to return empty-handed. On August 18, the coaching board of the Vietnam U23 team will eliminate 3 players and finalize the list of 23 official faces participating in the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 tournament. With the aim of "training soldiers" for the Asian Games (ASIAD) in September in Hangzhou (China), coach Hoang Anh Tuan will certainly put his trust in the core group of experienced players in the V-League such as Khuat Van Khang, Van Truong, Quoc Viet, Duy Cuong, Xuan Tien, Ngoc Thang, Duc Viet, Vi Hao and Dinh Duy.

The U23 Vietnam team will open the tournament with a match against U23 Laos at 4:00 p.m. on August 20. Next, at 8:00 p.m. on August 22, the team will face U23 Philippines. Experts believe that coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team will win the ticket to the Semi-finals in first place in Group C.

According to VNA