Footballers of the Vietnamese national U-19 team are confident to defeat Malaysia in their clash on Monday at the 2014Southeast Asian U-22 Football Championship, or Hassanal Bolkiah Cup, which is organized in Brunei from August 8 to 23.

Over the weekend, Vietnam U-19s routed Singapore U-21s 4-0 in their Group B game of the fifth edition of the invitational tournament, the brainchild of Brunei’s King, His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaullah.

French coach Guillaume Graechen of the Vietnamese side said, “Vietnam hold the chance to beat Malaysia.”

He added that, “Vietnam will field seven new players in its starting line-up in the match with Malaysia.

“And in the third game with Indonesia [on Wednesday], we will send seven other new players from the beginning.

“I will change my players that way till the last match of the group before short-listing our best team if we advance to the semifinals.”

It is meant to prepare for the Southeast Asian U-19 Football Championship in Hanoi in September and the finals of the Asian U-19 Football Championship in Myanmar in October, Graechen explained.

Four players who will make up the frame of the Vietnamese team include central back Tien Dung and midfielders Xuan Truong, Quang Hai, and Phan Van Long.

The French coach predicted that it is more difficult to play with Malaysia than Singapore but the Vietnamese are better than the Malaysians as they have more qualified players, especially fast strikers.

“We watched how Malaysia clash with Indonesia. We will create more space to beat them,” Graechen said confidently.

Vietnam were drawn in Group B with Cambodia, 2002 champions Indonesia, defending champions and hosts Brunei, Singapore, and Malaysia. All eleven teams of the Southeast Asian region take part in the biennial tournament this year.

Brunei won the 2012 competition on home soil after a 2-0 victory over Indonesia in the final.

Most players of the Vietnamese U-19 team come from the first generation of young players trained at Hoang Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal JMG, which is a football academy in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.

One of Vietnam’s richest tycoons, 52-year-old Doan Nguyen Duc spent US$4 million on founding the Arsenal-supported football academy in 2007.

The young players have completed six out of seven years of their training program at the academy.

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