The K League still a few month away but we do have some football to enjoy during the these cold winter months featuring some of the regions brightest young talent. The first group game for the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship featuring South Korea is on Thursday evening and sees them taking on South-East Asian Nation Vietnam. Squads, Preview and Prediction below;
Squads for South Korea U23 v Vietnam U23
Before we start here are the squads for both South Korea & Vietnam;
The South Korea squad is mainly domestically based with only 2 players playing overseas. 2 of the squad are University players with the rest in the K League Classic or Challenge. 2017 K League Champions Jeonbuk Hyundai provide 3 players.
Only 1 of the Vietnam Squad is currently based overseas, Lương Xuân Trường (Listed as Gangwon, but was released at the end of last season). The rest play in Vietnam, basically all in the V.League 1.
Preview & Prediction for South Korea U23 v Vietnam U23
2018 AFC U-23 Championship – Group Stage
Kick Off: 8.30pm Thursday January 11th
South Korea U23 v Vietnam U23
Both sides will be ready to go by this stage and this will be an important point to set out an early benchmark. South Korea will be favorites and Vietnam may start defensively. As already mentioned these sides played during qualification with South Korea coming out on top. That game was must win and played in Vietnam, this one will be in a quiet and maybe chilly stadium in China. Therefore we see Korea getting the win, but it won’t be a landslide victory.
Prediction: South Korea U23 2-0 Vietnam U23
Result & Highlights
South Korea 2-1 Vietnam
Highlights:
Finally
All of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship games (at least the games with South Korea) will be shown on JTBC3 & Naver Sports.
Updates via my personal Twitter Page (@ModernSeoul is still offline). Any questions or comments are welcome below or via Twitter/email.
Modern Seoul 