The Portuguese coach of the national football squad Henrique Calisto has announced the name of 22 footballers who will go to Laos for the Southeast Asian Games 2009 this December.

In late August, Calisto called up 33 players. After over two months of training, the VFF Cup 2009 and a number of friendly matches, the coach has now narrowed it down to 22 players.

Calisto says he has gone for younger players and where two players have similar skills he has opted for the younger one. The ten selected players this time will be at the right age for the next SEA Games. The list includes 2 goalkeepers, 8 fullbacks, 8 halfbacks and 4 strikers.

Of the seven rejected players, Calisto said 5 of them are good enough to go to Laos but they are rejected because they are older than their colleagues.

The current U23 team has only three players who participated in the SEA Games 2007 – Long Giang, Xuan Hop and Thanh Binh.

The list of U23 Vietnam squad:

Coach: Henrique Calisto

Assistants: Huỳnh Đức; Nguyễn Văn Sỹ, Nguyễn Đức Thắng, Trần Văn Khánh, Ngô Lê Bằng

Fullbacks: Xuân Hợp, Minh Đức (Thanh Hóa), Đại Đồng (T&T Hà Nội), Long Giang (Tiền Giang), Hoàng Quảng (SHB Đà Nẵng), Ngọc Anh (Nam Định), Công Minh, Đình Đồng (Sông Lam Nghệ An).

Halfbacks: Trọng Hoàng, Văn Bình (Sông Lam Nghệ An), Thái Dương (HA.Gia Lai), Thành Lương (Hà Nội ACB), Thanh Hưng (SHB Đà Nẵng), Quý Sửu (Đồng Tháp), Tiến Thành (Ninh Bình), Danh Ngọc (Nam Định).

Strikers: Thanh Bình (Đồng Tâm Long An), Đình Tùng (Thanh Hóa), Mạnh Dũng (Nam Định), Ngọc Anh (Sông Lam Nghệ An).

Seven rejected players: Minh Nhựt, Văn Học, Cao Cường, Văn Khải, Tăng Tuấn, Quang Vinh and Văn Duyệt.

PV