Warm up: The Viet Nam U23 team seen in a training session. They will meet U23 South Korea in a friendly match today. — VNS Photo Quang Thang

HA NOI (VNS)— Coach Toshiya Miura said at a press conference in Ha Noi that he was looking forward to Viet Nam's U23s match against South Korea at My Dinh Stadium today.

Miura yesterday said it was an important match for Viet Nam to prepare for the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore in June.

However, he was unsure of South Korea's talents, except that they have many players in good form.

The 49-year-old coach said he would select his players for Singapore based on their performances.

Miura has called up 30 players, but only 21 will go to the Games.

Asked about injury problems, Miura said Nguyen Huy Hung, Huynh Tan Tai, Nguyen Thanh Hien and Pham Hoang Lam were all out at the moment, but the training board had a plan in case they did not recover in time for the Singapore Games.

In preparation for the friendly match, South Korea arrived in Ha Noi on Wednesday to start a two-day training course.

"At the Asian U23 qualifying round in March, we faced several strong teams from the Southeast Asian region. In tomorrow's match, Viet Nam have the advantage of playing on home turf. My players will have to try their best to secure a win," said manager of South Korea Shin Tae-yong through an interpreter.

Moon Chae-hyun, a representative of the visiting team, said: "We are here to win. We have called up our best U23 player for the match with Viet Nam, three of whom play in the K-League."

Viet Nam are in Group B, along with the defending champions Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Brunei and East Timor at the 28th Games. Viet Nam's target is to reach the semi-finals. — VNS