HA NOI (VNS)—Viet Nam's U19 football team has begun to prepare for the U19 Southeast Asian football championships, holding their first training session at the Ham Rong Sports Centre in Gia Lai Province.

French coach Grachen Guillume has called up a provisional squad of 33 players, including 16 from the Hoang Anh Gia Lai-Arsenal JMG Football Academy, funded by the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group.

The squad will be cut to 25 players ahead of the friendlies against Laos on August 17 and the United Arab Emirates nine days later.

The championships are taking place in Indonesia from September 9-22, with Viet Nam drawn in Group A, which includes Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Group B comprises the Philippines, Australia, Timor Leste, Singapore and Cambodia.-VNS