Coach Lu Dinh Tuan said he was confident that his team would earn a ticket to the final round of the 2013 Asian U-22 football tournament.

The team convened at the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) training centre in Ha Noi before flying to Thailand yesterday where they will meet the host nation in two friendly matches during two weeks of training.

Next Thursday, the team will travel to Myanmar for a qualifying round scheduled for late June where they will compete in Group G with South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Myanmar.

The 23-player squad line-up will not include overseas Vietnamese player Nguyen Thanh Giang from Germany. — VNS