The ASEAN Football Federation on April 3 announced that Vietnam and Singapore will co-host the 10th ASEAN Football Championship in 2014.
This decision was released at an AFF meeting in Malaysia.
The two countries will also play host to qualifying matches of the tournament.
Vietnam hosted the biggest regional football tournament in 1998, 2004 and 2010. They outplayed Thailand 3-2 on aggregate, and became champions in 2008.
Singapore, the AFF Cup defending champions, will inaugurate a new stadium for the tournament in 2013.
Meanwhile, to ease the pressure on football players, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has changed the goal for the U23 squad at the upcoming Southeast Asia Games: moving to the finals, instead of winning the gold medal
This year, the most important tournament of Vietnam’s football is the 27th SEA Games. This is the playing field that for more than 50 years, Vietnam has not yet to win a gold medal
Hoang Van Phuc, who is considered to be the chief coach of the Vietnamese national football team and the U23 team, said that going to the semi-finals is the reasonable goal for the U23 squad. Phuc said the target to win the gold medal would put tremendous pressure on the players.
According to some sources from the VFF, after consultation with many experts and considering the actual situation, the VFF has decided to lower the target of the U23 team: entering the finale.
According to a VFF official, the U23 team must always strive to achieve the highest results and the gold medal is still the final destination
