Japanese coach Toshiya Miura met with the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) on Monday to work out plans for building the national U-23 team to prepare for two campaigns in the next two years.

The youth team will be sent to compete in the qualifiers of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship, to be held in March 2015, and the 28th SEA Games in June, according to what was discussed at the meeting.

In the longer term, the young players will make up the frame to prepare for the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup, to be co-hosted by Myanmar and the Philippines.

Although the senior team, led by Miura, failed to enter the final match of the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup as targeted, the VFF said it still trusts the Japanese manager on account of the dynamic and spirited performance of the squad in previous matches.

Japanese coach Toshiya Miura of Viet Nam (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

The Vietnamese players played well in the group stage of the tournament but lost 4-5 on aggregate to Malaysia in the semifinals.

They beat their rivals 2-1 in Kuala Lumpur on December 7 but suffered a shock 2-4 defeat in Ha Noi four days later.

Thailand will play Malaysia in the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup finale on a home and away basis on December 17 and 20.

Preparations for 2015

Both the VFF and coach Miura agreed in the meeting to recruit young players for the national U-23 team to play the AFC U-23 qualifiers from March 23 to 31 in Malaysia.

Viet Nam are placed in Group I against Japan, Macau, and hosts Malaysia.

Winners of the ten groups and the five best second-place teams from all groups, making up a total of 15 teams, will qualify for the final competition, where hosts Qatar await in January of 2016.

In addition, the Vietnamese U-23 team will also take part in the 28^th SEA Games in Singapore.

It is expected that only players born in 1993 or later will be called up to the U-23 squad.