Vietnam players recover from Covid before AFF U23 final

By Lam Thoa February 26, 2022 | 01:15 am PT

Keeper Tran Liem Dieu (R) plays as a striker in the AFF U23 Youth Championship semifinal between Timor Leste and Vietnam in Cambodia on February 24, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Anh Quoc

Four players have recovered from Covid-19, allowing Vietnam to have more players for the AFF U23 Youth Championship final with Thailand on Saturday.

On Friday morning, organizers ran PCR test on the whole team, with Dung Quang Nho, Truong Duc Manh and Tran Manh Quynh testing negative. The three are now eligible to play against Thailand in the final in Cambodia.

Then in the evening, cener-back Tran Quang Thinh also received a negative test result.

After the semifinal with Timor Leste on Thursday, Vietnam had two injured players and one newly detected Covid-19 case on the team. Therefore, they had only 10 players left to prepare for the final. Previously, 24 out of 27 players registered for the tournament had contracted Covid and Vietnam had to call up reinforcements.

On Friday, Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) sought permission from ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) to send Vietnam reinforcements for the final, but to no avail.

With the return of four players, Vietnam will have at least 15 for the final.

The match will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and will be reported live on VnExpress International.