NU23 Vietnam team entertain audience with fantastic performance in the final match against Uzbekistan (Source: AFC)Hanoi (VNA) – Forbes, a global media company, on January 29 run anarticle on its website stressing that the Vietnamese football team’sperformance at the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship isa clear proof for the success of youth training.
Recalling the team’s path to the final match, the articlewrote that Vietnam had defeated regional favourites like Australia and Iraq,and topped “money-soaked squads” from rich countries like Qatar.
In their third consecutive match that went to overtime, theteam only lost to Uzbekistan in the last minute of the final match.
Though they claimed no champion trophy, “their performancehas garnered attention from around the world and shows promise for Vietnam’sfootball horizon,” the article affirmed.
“Vietnam's success proves you don't have to invest huge sumsof money, but you do need time.”
Forbes said that in 2007, the Vietnamese Football Federation(VFF) cooperated with British club Arsenal FC and opened the Hoanh Anh Gia Laiacademy which has trained players with technical competence, hard-tacklingstyle, and athleticism.
[Coach Park Hang Seo: Vietnam’s football potential yet to be fully tapped]
“Nothing has changed about the academy except, ten years on,the number of academy players popping up at the top level,” the article wrote.Last year, on one U23 national side, nine of the 18 players came from the HoangAnh Gia Lai academy.
The number of Vietnamese teams on the international levelhas also grown. Vietnam was Southeast Asia’s only representative at the FIFAU20 World Cup.
Therefore, according to Forbes, the only thing most peopleknow about Vietnamese football is that “the youth team looks extremelypromising”.
The Vietnamese football team became the runner-up at the AFC U23 Championship 2018held in China after losing 1-2 to Uzbekistan in the final.
The team defeated Australia 1-0 in the group stage. They wonover Iraq in the quarterfinals and Qatar in the semifinals with penaltyshootouts. - VNA
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