The challenge for Vietnam U17 will not only come from their extremely strong rivals Japan but also from another team in Group D, Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan's youth football team possesses a formidable technical and physical foundation, having won the 2012 championship and regularly appearing in the quarterfinals of the U17 Asia. The fact that the U20 team of this country has just won the Asian Cup also creates more motivation for the U17 players to follow in the footsteps of their seniors to win glory.
Among the four teams in Group D, only the U17 India team has not had a very outstanding performance. In the 38-year history of the tournament, Japan has won the tournament three times, finished second once and finished third once. Uzbekistan is in 10th place with one win and another second place. 
To prepare for the 2023 Asian Cup finals, the Vietnam U17 team gathered early on April 1 and after 2 weeks, the team completed the first training cycle. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his players will have a half-month break and return to training in early May. During this time, Mr. Tuan and the coaching staff will observe and re-evaluate the outstanding U17 players who are not gathering because they are competing in the national U19 tournament with their home clubs. In the second training session, the U17 team will have about 2 weeks to train domestically and then will go to train and compete in Japan, mainly with local clubs in the Land of the Rising Sun. Meanwhile, the Japanese U17 and Uzbekistan U17 teams are also very well prepared, if not the best. Uzbekistan U17 played... 8 friendly matches with youth teams of Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, Czech Republic, Morocco and India since the beginning of February, while Japan U17 had about 2 weeks of training and friendly matches in Algeria with 2 local clubs, 3 teams of Comoros U17, Mali U17 and Algeria U17 in March. At the final round of the 2023 U17 Asian Cup, the 4 best teams of the tournament will represent Asia to attend the 2023 U17 World Cup.
The U17 team will face very strong opponents at the U17 Asian Cup Finals. Photo: VFF
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