Vietnam expects to win a quarter-final berth at the Asian FootballConfederation U19 Championship in Myanmar although they have been drawnin the "Death Group" of the tournament, players and coaches say.
Theysaid that the team, which arrived in Myanmar on October 5, is ready toovercome all obstacles against continental powerhouses China, Japan andthe Republic of Korea (RoK), who make up the other teams in Group C.
Vietnammade a big bang in Asia after knocking out Australia 5-1 to top theirqualifying group and secure their ticket to the finals.
The youngplayers have since received strong support to take part in trainingprogrammes in Europe and Japan to prepare for the finals. They alsoplayed warm-up games in two regional competitions, finishing second inboth.
Coach Guillaume Graechen said he believed 100 percent inhis players despite the presence of strong rivals. The Frenchmanappealed to the fans not to go overboard over victories and have greatersympathy with failures because the team is nurturing players for thefuture.
Graechen said Japan were the strongest opponent becausethey played well as a team and had individuals who could change thecourse of a game. He felt they would definitely take one of twosemi-final tickets, leaving the remaining three teams to fight for theremaining spot.
Japan has been extremely tough rivals forVietnam, having won all their three encounters thus far. They arebringing to Myanmar nine players in the team that beat Vietnam 1-0 totake the AFF U19 Cup last month.
Coach Suzuki Masakazu hascalled up many players from J.League 1 and J.League 2 to give the teamtheir best chance at the title.
Vietnam will play Japan onOctober 11, two days before they face defending champions RoK, who haveon their team the "Korean Messi", Paik Seung-ho, a member of BarcelonaJuvenil A, Oh Se-joon of Werder Bremen, Kim Shin of Lyon and KimDong-soo of Hamburg.
RoK has dominated the tournament for a long time, winning 12 of its 37 editions.
Chinaalso has some very talented players including striker Xiang Baixu, whoplays for the Saint-Etienne juvenil team. The 19-year-old received hiscontract with the French team after only three training days because ofhis goal hunting skills and an ideal height of 1.88m.
Otherplayers worth watching are midfield players Wei Shihao (Boavista FC,Portugal), Tang Shi (Botafogo, Brazil) and Gao Zhunyi (Kataller Toyama,Japan).
"All of our opponents are very strong, they are allAsia's leading features. However we are not afraid of them and face nopressure in this tournament," said Vietnam captain Nguyen Cong Phuong.
"Wehave agreed with each other that we would play with all of our capacityand the result will show after the matches," he said.
Graechensaid he had collected information and clips of Korea and China. Thecoaching board had carefully watched and found suitable solutions, headded.
All matches of the Asian championship will be aired live on VTV channels.
Sixteenteams have qualified for the final stage of the tournament. They havebeen divided into four groups wherein they will compete in a round robinformat. Two best teams from each group will advance to thequarter-final round.
All four teams that make it to thesemi-finals would automatically enter the finals of the FIFA U20 WorldCup in New Zealand, which will be played May 30-June 20 next year.-VNA
Theysaid that the team, which arrived in Myanmar on October 5, is ready toovercome all obstacles against continental powerhouses China, Japan andthe Republic of Korea (RoK), who make up the other teams in Group C.
Vietnammade a big bang in Asia after knocking out Australia 5-1 to top theirqualifying group and secure their ticket to the finals.
The youngplayers have since received strong support to take part in trainingprogrammes in Europe and Japan to prepare for the finals. They alsoplayed warm-up games in two regional competitions, finishing second inboth.
Coach Guillaume Graechen said he believed 100 percent inhis players despite the presence of strong rivals. The Frenchmanappealed to the fans not to go overboard over victories and have greatersympathy with failures because the team is nurturing players for thefuture.
Graechen said Japan were the strongest opponent becausethey played well as a team and had individuals who could change thecourse of a game. He felt they would definitely take one of twosemi-final tickets, leaving the remaining three teams to fight for theremaining spot.
Japan has been extremely tough rivals forVietnam, having won all their three encounters thus far. They arebringing to Myanmar nine players in the team that beat Vietnam 1-0 totake the AFF U19 Cup last month.
Coach Suzuki Masakazu hascalled up many players from J.League 1 and J.League 2 to give the teamtheir best chance at the title.
Vietnam will play Japan onOctober 11, two days before they face defending champions RoK, who haveon their team the "Korean Messi", Paik Seung-ho, a member of BarcelonaJuvenil A, Oh Se-joon of Werder Bremen, Kim Shin of Lyon and KimDong-soo of Hamburg.
RoK has dominated the tournament for a long time, winning 12 of its 37 editions.
Chinaalso has some very talented players including striker Xiang Baixu, whoplays for the Saint-Etienne juvenil team. The 19-year-old received hiscontract with the French team after only three training days because ofhis goal hunting skills and an ideal height of 1.88m.
Otherplayers worth watching are midfield players Wei Shihao (Boavista FC,Portugal), Tang Shi (Botafogo, Brazil) and Gao Zhunyi (Kataller Toyama,Japan).
"All of our opponents are very strong, they are allAsia's leading features. However we are not afraid of them and face nopressure in this tournament," said Vietnam captain Nguyen Cong Phuong.
"Wehave agreed with each other that we would play with all of our capacityand the result will show after the matches," he said.
Graechensaid he had collected information and clips of Korea and China. Thecoaching board had carefully watched and found suitable solutions, headded.
All matches of the Asian championship will be aired live on VTV channels.
Sixteenteams have qualified for the final stage of the tournament. They havebeen divided into four groups wherein they will compete in a round robinformat. Two best teams from each group will advance to thequarter-final round.
All four teams that make it to thesemi-finals would automatically enter the finals of the FIFA U20 WorldCup in New Zealand, which will be played May 30-June 20 next year.-VNA
