Park up against ex-boss Hiddink in Vietnam U22 team’s China friendly

By Hoang Nguyen   July 11, 2019 | 05:55 pm PT
Park up against ex-boss Hiddink in Vietnam U22 team’s China friendly
Vietnam (white) play Indonesia at the U22 AFF Championship, February 24, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Duc Dong.
The Vietnam U22 team will play China in September, pitting coach Park Hang-seo against his former boss, Guus Hiddink.

The Vietnam Football Federation has confirmed the exhibition match on September 8 in China.

Dutchman Hiddink is well known for taking South Korea to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, arguably the greatest feat in Asian football history. In that World Cup, Korean Park was Hiddink’s assistant.

In the 2020 U23 AFC Championship qualifiers earlier this year Hiddink helped China beat Malaysia, Laos and the Philippines to top the table and directly qualify for the tournament next year.

Though Park cannot attend the match and meet Hiddink since he will be with the national team at the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, he will decide strategy and is likely to closely follow the match. He is also the U22 coach, but in his absence assistant coach Lee Young-jin will take over.

Vietnam U22 team will have five training sessions together from July to September. In October, the team will gather for 45 days to prepare for SEA Games 30 in the Philippines, which will take place from November 25 to December 11.

 
 
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