Off-season

V-League 2011 is over. Off-season is the time for international fixtures and honestly they are not my best interest. However, I still keep an eye on what our national team of all levels are doing.

Vietnam national team: After getting kicked out of WC qualification, Vietnam NT will have only friendlies to play until AFF Cup 2012. The next friendly fixture is on October 7th when our national team travels to Japan to take on the hosts.

Vietnam U23: Vietnam U23 has a familiar goal this year: winning SEA Games gold medal. To prepare for that, 27 players were called-up to take part in some training sessions and play two friendly tournaments: Eximbank Cup in Ho Chi Minh city and VFF Cup in Hanoi. The squad list is here.

Vietnam U21: Vietnam U21 will be the hosts of the annual competition Thanh Nien Newspaper U21 International Cup which kicks off on September 25th. The squad has not been announced yet.

Vietnam U19: Our teenagers are doing pretty well in U19 AFF Cup in Myanmar. After defeating Brunei 7-0, Vietnam U19 drew 1-1 with Myanmar and enjoyed 6-1 victory over Indonesia. The last opponent in group stage will be Laos.

Vietnam U16: In Laos, Vietnam U16 drew 1-1 with South Korea but lost heavily 0-3 to the hosts in the following game. The other names in our group are Japan, Chinese Taipei and Cambodia.

and... Uganda U23: Uganda stands third behind Brazil and Nigeria in term of exporting players to Vietnam. Their U23 side has many Vietnam-based players. Moses Oloya (Saigon Xuan Thanh), Ibrahim Juma (Saigon Xuan Thanh) and Ntambi Kirizestom (Navibank Saigon) all took part in the 2-2 away draw with Iraq national team and 0-0 draw with Cameroon U23.