HANOI (27 May 2012) – The Vietnam national Under-22 team is going the way of several teams in ASEAN where they have included two foreign-based players in the team with the hope that they can be competitive for the AFC U22 Asian Cup qualifiers next month.
The two overseas players are Nguyen Thanh Giang and Mac Hong Quan.
The 21-year-old Thanh Giang was born to German and Vietnamese parents. Having played for German club Aue FC, he can play either as a striker or a winger.
On the other hand, 20-year-old Hong Quan left Vietnam for the Czech Republic in 2000. He had played for Tachov FC before joining Sparta Prague FC when he was 15. Sparta had produced many outstanding players for the Czech Republic in the last decade, including Pavel Nedved, Patrick Berger, Jan Koeller, Tomas Rosicky and Petr Cech.
Last year, Hong Quan made the Sparta reserve team.
“Other countries try to call for their overseas players to return home, why don’t we? I’ve asked the General Department of Sports and Physical Training to permit Quan and Giang to enter the U22 team. They will group up with the team in early June,” said former coach Mai Duc Chung.
For the qualifying round of the AFF U22 Asian Cup, Vietnam have been placed in Group G against hosts Myanmar, Korea Republic, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and the Philippines.
