Vietnamese players celebrate their first SEA Games title in the Philippines on December 10. (Photo: bacgiangtv.vn)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) -Vietnamese football enjoyed a hugely successful 2019 and are now theundisputed king of ASEAN football, but leaders of the national footballfederation think there's even more to come in 2020.
After 60 years of waiting, theU22 team won the Southeast Asian Games men's football in early December. Theyoung 'Golden Stars' went through the tournament undefeated and thrashedIndonesia 3-0 in the final.
Earlier, the female team beatarch rivals Thailand 1-0 to take the trophy, defending their title andsecuring a record sixth championship at the regional sportingfestival. In August, they also won AFF Cup against Thailand.
In the 2022 World Cup qualifiers,Vietnam are the only team in Group G undefeated and top the table with 11points after five matches.
In the Asian Cup in January, Vietnamshocked the continent by advancing to the quarter-final in their comebackto this tournament after 12 years, their best ever result.
At November's ASEAN FootballFederation (AFF) Awards, Park Hang-seo was voted best coach, midfielderNguyen Quang Hải was best player and Vietnam were the national team of the year.
"We are all happy and proudwith what the national teams have done in this year," said Tran Quoc Tuan,Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).
"We prepared well forthe year and earned remarkable achievements which are strong pushes forVietnamese and would massively boost interest in the game," he said.
Tuan, who is also head ofthe Asian Football Confederation Competition Committee, said thedevelopment of national football had been mapped out and brought resultsfrom years before. It had resulted from a long and well prepared course.
Winston Lee, AFF GeneralSecretary, also appreciated Vietnam's success when he took part in the VFF'sannual meeting December 29 in Hanoi.
“I believe that you are veryproud of the Vietnamese achievements during this time in both men’s and women’sfootball," Lee was quoted as saying on vff.org.vn.
"In fact, as we know, thesuccess of Vietnam was shown not only in these two years but also from manyyears ago. In my opinion, it was since AFF Cup 2008. Your outstandingsuccess had made a strong impression on us.
“Vietnam will not stop at thissuccess, you need a new goal and long-time plan. You will need to work hard forthose goals,” he said.
In 2020, Vietnam will take partin several tournaments.
The national team will hope todefend their AFF Cup title, advance to the third qualification of the 2022World Cup and win a berth in the finals of the 2023 Asian Cup. The U19'sduty is to qualify for the U20 World Cup in 2021; the women's national teammust defend their title at the AFF Cup; and the futsal squad have to vie for aslot at the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2021.
But all eyes are on their firsttournament of the year which will be the AFC U23 Championship in Thailand nextmonth.
Park and his players will leavefor the event on January 1 and will have a friendly match against Bahrainbefore starting their journey on January 10 versus the UAE.
The outstanding achievement ofthe team when finishing in second place was a milestone for Vietnamesefootball.
VFF leaders said it was hard toachieve success and would be much harder to retain, but Vietnam was in agood position.
"Since our first discussionsfor teams who will compete in 2020 we have thought of the U23s' opportunitiesto win an Olympic berth," said VFF Secretary General Le Hoai Anh.
"They have been given thebest conditions for practising and a training camp in the Republic of Koreaduring their preparation for the tournament. I believe our team will pass thegroup stage. In the quarters, we might face a powerful team but goodpreparation and sometimes a little luck will help, then a slot in the semis ispossible," said Anh. "At the same time if Japan, hosts of the 2020Olympics, are also in the last-four, then we will have won an Olympic berth."
"Of course, it is our dreamand if we can achieve it or not also depends on other elements. Your know thatwe have deeply supported football, so do other countries such as Indonesia, whohave invested strongly in their football recently."/.
VNA
