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This will be the last AFC U23 Championship version for the 1995-born players like Cong Phuong (number 10). The
ceremony featured the attendance of representatives from the 16 qualified
teams, which were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded
according to their performance in the 2016 AFC U23 Championship finals and in
the qualification of the 2018 tournament.
This is
the second time that Vietnam have made their way to the AFC U23 Championship
final tournament. The team qualified as one of the five best second-placed
teams in the qualification round, finishing behind the leader, the Republic
of Korea, in Group I.
Two other
representatives of Southeast Asia, Thailand and Malaysia, face a similar
situation as they have been drawn into groups of tough opponents.
Thailand
join reigning champions Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and
Palestine in Group B, while Malaysia were drawn in Group C, together with
2016 third-place finisher Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Group A features
hosts China, Uzbekistan, Omar and 2016 fourth-place finisher, Qatar.
The teams
will play in a round robin format to decide the top two teams from each group
that will advance into the knockout stage.
The 2018
AFC U23 Championship finals is set to take place from January 9 to 27,
Vietnam
will play their opening Group D match against the Republic of Korea on
January 11 before taking on Australia and Syria on January 14 and 17,
respectively.
The
competition will be the first test for the Republic of Korea trainer, Park
Hang-seo, as the head coach of Vietnam’s national and U23 football teams.
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