The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has named the opening Group D clash between Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Matchday 1, January 10) among the five most must see matches in the group stage of the 2020 AFC U23 Championship in Thailand.
Vietnam
midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai (R) and teammates are among the title favourites at
the 2020 AFC U23 Championship in Thailand.
In
an article published on its website today (January 7), the AFC hailed Vietnam
U23s as one of the odds-on favourites to claim the trophy this year.
"Unlike 2018, Vietnam will go into this campaign among the
favourites and, up against the United
Arab Emirates in their first game, it will
be interesting to see how Nguyen Quang Hai and co. deal with the added
pressure,” the article said.
They stated that the Golden
Stars have been riding a purple patch since their historic runner-up finish in
Changzhou, China, two years ago, winning the 2018 AFF Championship, reaching
the last eight of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, and currently sitting on top of their
group in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Asian
Qualifiers.
The article touched upon the
UAE’s 0-1 defeat against Vietnam
in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers last November, stating that following the
teams’ constant success over recent times, Vietnamese football is increasingly
affirming themselves as a real powerhouse.
Alongside the Vietnam-UAE
clash in Group D, the AFC also voted four other matches to look out for at
Thailand 2020, including Thailand-Bahrain (Group A, Matchday 1, January 8),
China-Uzbekistan (Group C, Matchday 2, January 12), Qatar-Japan (Group B,
Matchday 3, January 15) and Uzbekistan-Republic of Korea (Group C, Matchday 3,
January 15).
Source: NDO
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