Calisto and his assistants at the national squad.

Calisto’s assistants at the national squad will not change, including Tran Van Khanh, Phan Thanh Hung and one more new, young coach who will be picked up from a football club.

Calisto recommended Nguyen Van Sy (Ninh Binh), Le Huynh Duc (Da Nang), Nguyen Huu Thang (Song Lam Nghe An), Tran Cong Minh (Dong Tam Long An), and Trieu Quang Ha (T&T). The coach and the National Coaching Board will make decision at a meeting in late April.

“Calisto wants to have a young assistant to refresh the coaching board and to help the young assistant grow up in a new working environment, which is different from the working environment at football clubs,” said the Vietnam Football Federation’s (VFF) spokesman Nguyen Lan Trung.

There are three criteria to choose assistants for Calisto to manage the U23 squad: good behavior, be able to enhance unity inside the team, honest and faithfulness.

“For Mr. Calisto, these criteria are sometimes more important than good skills. Calisto wishes to have two strong, administratively independent teams,” Nguyen Lan Trung explained.

According to a plan agreed by Calisto and the VFF on March 4, U23 team will convene on September 4 and will drill in South Korea from September 20-29. In October, the national squad will group up the second time and have a friendly match against the U23 team. The two teams will drill in October but the national team will join the HCM City Football Cup from October 20-24 while the U23 will attend the VFF Cup in Hanoi from November 4-8.

The two sides also agreed that the national squad will not have a friendly match against Olympiakos on May 21 because the team planed to group up on May 19. Two days are not enough for them to prepare for the match.

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