First, coach Philippe Troussier talked about the list of 22 U23 Vietnam players to prepare for the Asian tournament: "The players on the list this time will almost certainly not be the group competing in the U23 Asian qualifiers. The real composition for this tournament will only be gathered on August 29. It is difficult to call this the U23 Vietnam team, but exactly this is the U23 selection team."

Coach Philippe Troussier shared with the press.

Regarding the Vietnamese team, the French coach said: “The team will gather with the strongest force on September 1 to prepare for the friendly match with Palestine. In addition to Tien Linh, Que Ngoc Hai, Dinh Thanh Binh and Tuan Anh were called up to the team early; players Le Quoc Nhat Nam and Vo Minh Trong will be retained by me to participate in the U23 Asian qualifiers.”

Assessing the chances in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, coach Philippe Troussier said: “With the expanded format of the 2026 World Cup, other countries in Southeast Asia have the right to set ambitions to go deep, at least pass the second qualifying round. Even opponents that people may not rate highly like the Philippines, I think they will be a strong opponent. Therefore, the 2026 World Cup qualifiers will be very difficult.”

When asked about the chance of Vietnamese-American goalkeeper Filip Nguyen joining the national team, Mr. Philippe Troussier shared: “As far as I know, Filip Nguyen is applying for Vietnamese citizenship. I think he is performing well in the Hanoi Police FC jersey. He is an experienced goalkeeper and will be a very good addition to the national team. That makes me very happy. Whoever performs best will be chosen to start.”

“I hope that from Filip Nguyen’s case, other overseas Vietnamese players will also have the opportunity to become naturalized players to play for the national team. Recruiting dual-nationality players is one of the ways that African teams like Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, etc. have done to improve the level of their teams. In Asia, Japan, Thailand and Indonesia are also doing this,” said coach Philippe Troussier.

News and photos: VIET AN

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