VIENTIANE (1 June 2012) –With just three months left to the actual competition, the AFF Under-16 Preparatory Tournament this week in Laos will allow competing teams to assess their level of preparedness.
The four teams – Laos, Japan, Australia and Thailand – have all qualified for the main event of the AFC Under-16 Championship which this year will be hosted by Iran on 22 Sept to 6 Oct 2012.
And with Thailand and Laos from the ASEAN region making it to the main draw, this AFF-organised competition will give added benefit to their preparation as they assess what needed to be done in the coming months.
Such sentiments were voiced by all competing teams at the pre-match press conference that was held this afternoon at the Laos Football Federation (LFF) headquarters.
“We have been training for more than a month in preparation for this tournament as well as the actual competition in September,” said Han HyongIl, the chief coach of Laos. “Our aim here is not to win this meet in Laos but rather just to gain experience and also identify our weaknesses.”
“This is a good competition for us to prepare for the final round,” added SawinJaraspetcharanan, the team manager of Thailand. “This is basically the same team that will take part in the actual competition although it has been pointed out that for this meet, we want the players to be more relaxed and enjoy the game.”
“This will be in effect our first phase of preparation before the September meet,” said Tony Vidmar, the team manager of Australia. “I can’t really say that we have all our best players here as we have had to leave several back home due to injuries. Nevertheless, this will be a good opportunity to play against good teams.”
“We will do our best for this tournament but just like Australia, we also have some players who could not make the trip due to injuries,” added Takahashi Kenichi, the team manager of Japan. “But we are confident that we can show our level best to play against some of the best teams in the region.”
AFF UNDER-16 PREPARATORY TOURNAMENT 2012
(All matches at the Lao National Stadium, KM16)
2 June 2012: Australia vs Japan (1600) / Thailand vs Laos (1900)
4 June 2012: Japan vs Thailand (1600) / Laos vs Australia (1900)
6 June 2012: Australia vs Thailand (1600) / Japan vs Laos (1900)
8 June 2012: 3rd position vs 4th position (1600) / Winner vs Runner-up (1900)
