Another reinforcement for Vietnam before U23 AFF Championship semifinals

“We are selecting and will get four players to Phnom Penh on Thursday morning,” an official of Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) told VnExpress.

Vietnam had already added six players to the squad recently, after multiple Covid-19 cases were detected in the team. However, some among the added players also got Covid-19, so VFF had to call up more.

Covid-19 is hitting the 2022 AFF U23 Youth Championship hard. Indonesia and Myanmar both withdrew from the tournament due to a lack of players. Singapore only had 14 players for the game with Vietnam last Saturday, in which they lost 0-7.

On Tuesday night, Vietnam played Thailand for the first position in group C. Despite a shortage of players, Vietnam still won 1-0 thanks to a direct goal from the corner of Nguyen Trung Thanh and entered the semifinals.

According to the test result on Wednesday morning, seven out of 19 members of the team are still positive for Covid-19.

“After the match against Thailand, our squad were hit by Covid-19 again,” head coach Dinh The Nam told an online press conference on Wednesday.

“I hope the team will have enough numbers to play. But in any situation, we are always determined to complete our task. We will motivate and encourage the players before facing Timor Leste.”