Steven Vo (L) and Emil Le Giang

Vietnam’s football authorities are considering adding young overseas Vietnamese to the national Under-22 squad.

Under consideration are Steven Vo, Ngo Tuan Anh, Emil Le Giang and Patrick Le Giang. Chung said all the candidates were excellent because they were tall and skilled enough to make it into the national U16 to U19 teams of Germany, Poland and Slovakia. The hopefuls are between 16 and 21, with one candidate aged 24.

“I have contacted their families and representatives and they have promised to send the players to

Vietnam as soon as possible,” Chung said. “Yet they can’t show up in Vietnam at the same time. They will come at different times from now till mid-January 2009.”

“Tuan Anh will return to Vietnam today and the coaching staff will test him. If he is good and still a Vietnamese citizen, I will call him when the National U22 gets together in May next year,” Chung said.

Chung said he has a ticket for Tuan Anh to watch the 2008 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup semifinals match between Vietnam and Singapore at Hanoi’s My Dinh Stadium on Wednesday, so that he can experience the atmosphere and gauge the performance of the Vietnamese players.

Chung said Steven Vo is 1.74 meters tall and was a member of Germany’s

U15 team and Emil Le Giang, 17, is 1.76 meters tall and plays for Germany’s Nuremberg Club. Emil was in Slovakia’s U16 team and scored the only goal to win a friendly match against Wales. He later joined the U17 team to play in the European U17 Championship.

Liverpool and Fulham of England as well as Italy’s Lazio wanted Emil but the Vietnamese-Slovak player finally joined the German club after a transfer fee of one million euros (US$1.3 million) was offered.

Chung is concerned about Emil’s nationality. He has previously played for Slovakia’s U16 team but he must be a Vietnamese citizen to be eligible to play for the national U22 team.

“I’m happy because more and more expatriate players want to play for the national team,” Chung said.

Reported by Quang Tuyen