Vietnamese U22 side to miss French football tournament
VOV.VN - The Vietnamese national U22 team will not compete in the upcoming Toulon Tournament in France due to the complicated global developments relating to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) had previously agreed to send the U22 team led by head coach Park Hang-seo to France in order to participate in the tournament following an invitation sent by the French Football Federation.
However, due to the impact of the pandemic, the Vietnamese side have been forced to withdraw. In addition, the competition itself has been pushed back from the summer to the autumn.
In line with the new schedule, the squad and coach Park Hang-seo will instead come together to participate in a training camp in the nation in preparation for upcoming tournaments, including the SEA Games 31.
The Toulon Tournament is widely considered to be a miniature World Cup for youth teams, with the likes of France’s Thierry Henry, Portugal’s Manuel Rui Costa, and England’s Alan Shearer having all played in the competition in the past.
This year’s version of the tournament will feature the participation of 10 teams, including Australia, Chile, Denmark, France, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Japan, Mexico, Qatar, and Romania.
They will compete in a round-robin format to choose the group winners and the best second-placed team who will progress to the semi-finals.
Previously, the tournament was scheduled to take place from May 30 to June 13. However, due to the impact of COVID-19 the competition has been rescheduled to start on August 7.
