HCM CITY — Viet Nam are hopeful of winning an international under-23 football tournament that begins in HCM City today to commemorate Ha Noi's millennium.
"We have been training for three weeks [for] the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, next November," Nguyen Van Sy, assistant coach of the team, told a conference yesterday.
"Although this is an invitational tournament, it is very important for us in the build-up to the Asian Games. Moreover, we will try our best to win the trophy to celebrate the millennium of Ha Noi."
Iran will play Singapore in the opening game at 3.45pm today and it will be followed by the much-awaited match between Viet Nam and Malaysia, who edged Viet Nam in the 25th SEA Games final last December.
Viet Nam have eight players from that line-up which lost by one goal. Malaysia have made seven changes.
Viet Nam, with three players aged above 23, including striker Nguyen Anh Duc and goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong, like some of the other teams, are the better team on paper, but Sy rates Malaysia highly under the coach K. Rajagopal.
"We gathered only on September 21," Rajagopal said.
"Winning the SEA Games title was in the past and we are looking forward. We do not have any goals and will just go out there and play our best."
Iran, the only team from West Asia, are the youngest in the fray but have an advantage over the other teams in terms of height and physical strength.
"We have limited knowledge of the participating teams but the tournament will give us a good opportunity to acquaint ourselves with East Asian teams," Hamzeh Khosro, a member of the Iranian coaching staff, said.
"All the players are under 21. We will do our best and hope to have a good tournament."
Singapore have also made eight changes from the team that played at the SEA Games, including the drafting of two players aged above 23.
"Because the S-League is still in progress, we had some difficulty getting players," Singapore's assistant coach, Sundram Smoorthy, said.
"But we are happy to play good teams here and to see how our players perform."
The teams are allowed to field six substitutes in a match against the normal two.
The final will be played on October 2 at the Thong Nhat Stadium. The champions will walk away with a cash prize of US$20,000, the runner-up will get $10,000, and the third-placed team, $5,000. — VNS
