Twenty-eight players have been summoned to the Vietnamese U18 team by head coach Hoang Anh Tuan in preparation for the upcoming 2019 International U18 Football Tournament in Hong Kong (China).

The competition, held by the Hong Kong Football Association, will take place from April 19 to 22, bringing together four U18 squads, namely Hong Kong (China), Vietnam, Myanmar and Singapore.

The competitors will play in a round robin format to determine the overall champions and other rankings.

The tournament is an important warm-up for Hoang Anh Tuan and his Vietnam U18s side towards the 2019 AFF U18 Championship in August and the 2020 AFC U19 Championship qualifiers later this year.

With the purpose of building and selecting forces for the two aforementioned major goals, Hoang Anh Tuan has called up 28 players for the preliminary list. There is little surprise that those who recently won the int’l U19 tournament in the Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa take the majority, notably including forward Pham Xuan Tao, who was named both “best player” and “top scorer” of the tournament.

Forward Pham Xuan Tao, who was named both “best player” and “top scorer” of the recent international U19 tournament in Khanh Hoa province, is among the 28 players summoned by head coach Hoang Anh Tuan.

As planned, Vietnam U18s will have ten days for training and assembling lineup before heading to Hong Kong on April 17 with a final 20-man squad.

The first opponent of Hoang Anh Tuan’s side will be Singapore (April 19), then come Myanmar (April 20) and hosts Hong Kong (April 22).

Nhan Dan