Coach Đinh Hồng Vinh removes Croatian-Vietnamese player from U23 Vietnam squad.

Coach Đinh Hồng Vinh has finalized the list of 25 U23 Vietnam players traveling to China for an international friendly tournament.

On the morning of March 22, after a week of training, the head coach of the U23 Vietnam team Đinh Hồng Vinh officially confirmed the roster of 25 U23 Vietnam players heading to China to participate in the CFA Team China 2026 Friendly Tournament.

The five players not included in the final list are Nguyễn Lê Phát, Antonio Moric, Trương Nhạc Minh, Lê Nguyễn Văn Thọ, and Nguyễn Trọng Tuấn. Among them, Nguyễn Lê Phát and Trương Nhạc Minh had to withdraw due to unrecovered injuries. Lê Phát suffered a shoulder dislocation while training with Ninh Bình Club and could not even join the team's assembly, while Nhạc Minh experienced knee pain during the first training session with U23 Vietnam on March 17.

Notably, Croatian-Vietnamese forward Antonio Moric also concluded his trial period with the team and returned to U19 Vietnam as per the initial plan. Previously, he was given a week to train and assess his capabilities. Thus, the U23 Vietnam national team will have two overseas Vietnamese players participating in this tournament: Trần Thành Trung and Vadim Nguyễn.

The remaining two players, Lê Nguyễn Văn Thọ and Nguyễn Trọng Tuấn, were not retained as they did not meet the professional requirements.

Also on the morning of March 22, players who had just completed their duties in the National Cup, such as Lê Văn Thuận, Nguyễn Công Phương, and Thái Bá Đạt, fully joined their teammates.

According to the travel itinerary, the U23 Vietnam national team will fly from Hanoi to Guangzhoubefore connecting to Xi'an on the same evening. It is expected that the entire team will arrive in Xi'an early on March 23 local time, then quickly settle in and begin their first training session to familiarize themselves with the weather conditions and facilities.

At the CFA Team China – Xi'an 2026 tournament, U23 Vietnam will successively face U23 North Korea (March 25), U23 Thailand (March 28), and host U23 China (March 31). Coach Đinh Hồng Vinh stated that with the participation of high-quality opponents, this tournament is considered a valuable opportunity for young players to accumulate international match experience, while also helping the coaching staff continue evaluating and refining the squad towards the key objectives of Vietnamese football in the upcoming period.