Vietnam U19 football team to play friendly in Qatar

"It’s hard for the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to invite international teams to Vietnam at this time because of the Covid-19 pandemic," U19 head coach Philippe Troussier told the press after watching a V. League 2 play-off game in Nha Trang in central Vietnam on Monday.

"But with the effort of the VFF, we will fly to Qatar and play a friendly with them next year because they will be a good test for us before we go to Uzbekistan for the AFC U19 Championship."

The team will fly to Qatar in mid-February, train there and play the friendly and fly directly to Uzbekistan for the tournament from March 3 to 20.

Troussier has identified 13 players and the upcoming National U21 Tournament will be an opportunity for him to finalize his squad.

"I must keep an eye on the players that are already on my list to see who are performing well and who is not to find a replacement as soon as possible," he said.

The U21 event will be played in Nha Trang from November 23.

Vietnam’s U19 team have played Qatar once before in a friendly in 2018 and lost 1-4.