Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Nationalfootball team players will gather together in September and play friendlymatches ahead of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, according to the VietnamFootball Federation (VFF).

The world of football ispreparing for a comeback as social distancing is eased and Vietnam is noexception.

“If there is no change, thenational team will begin their training camp in September to prepare for thematches in October and November,” said VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh.

“The will definitely have friendlymatches (to test the tactics and line-up). The VFF is contacting partners toinvite strong teams to Vietnam who will also have matches with local clubs inthis training camp,” Anh said.

Previously, the VFF invited Iraqand Kyrgyzstan to play Vietnam but all the matches were cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, Vietnam are on top ofGroup G in the World Cup qualification with 11 points after five matches.

The team will visit Malaysia inOctober and a win over the team in second will put coach Park Hang-seo’scontingent on the cusp of reaching the final stage of Asian qualifiers.

The following matches will beagainst Indonesia at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi and the UAE away, bothin November.

The World Cup matches come at thesame time as Park has to work with his U22 team to prepare to defend theirtitle at the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, set to be held in late 2021.

His assistant Kim Han-yoon isexpected to take charge of the young squad who will also have an intensivetraining camp and friendly matches to prepare.

“The U22s will train at the sametime as the national team, then they will have the chance to learn from theirseniors,” said Anh.

He revealed that in October, theVFF will hold an international U22 event and invite three quality teams to Hanoi.The young sides will also enjoy training camps abroad to sharpen their skills.

Hosting the tournament is anadvantage for Vietnam but there will also be obstacles for the coachingstaff in this Games.

Next year, most of the playerswho won Vietnam’s first-ever SEA Games title in 2019 will be over-aged.

Only goalkeeper Nguyen Van Toanand star defender Doan Van Hau will still be eligible. 

However, currently, there areonly up to 50 players from all V.League 1 clubs that can meet the rule of age,being born before 1999 and few are first-team regulars.

Park has pointed out that clubsin Vietnam prefer to play foreign players than local ones and alsoprioritise veterans.

Park said that more than once hehas asked clubs to give opportunities to youngsters but his calls have fallenon deaf ears.

“It is a big challenge when wewant to defend our title,” said Anh.

“But other teams also have thesame problem. It is more than one year to the tournament. Then we have to finda solution and choose the best players to keep the crown at home.”/.