Vietnamese midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai seen at the AFC U23 Championship 2018.

As the AFC U23 Championship Thailand 2020 kicks off in just a few weeks, the AFC has picked eight of the finest goals in the competition since the first edition in Oman in 2014.

According to the AFC website, while Uzbekistan won the tournament, Hai captured the imagination and his 'Rainbow in the Snow' in the final – one of five superb goals by the midfielder – provided one of the most iconic moments the competition has ever seen.

Despite finishing second place in the event last year, reaching the final was a historic landmark for Vietnamese football.

Besides Hai’s goal, the AFC also chose a goal from Zakaria Al Sudani of Saudi Arabia in a game against Uzbekistan in the group stage in the AFC event in 2014.

The other six goals were scored by Abdelkarim Hassan of Qatar (2016), Ahmed Al Sarori of Yemen (2016), Mahdi Torabi of Iran (2016), Omar Maanasrah of Jordan (2016), Shoya Nakajima of Japan (2016) and Azizjon Ganiev of Uzbekistan (2018).

Vietnam’s U23 football team arrived South Korea on Saturday, beginning a 10-day training camp in preparation for the AFC U23 Championship in January.

The team will have two friendly matches with South Korean teams during the camp.

They will return home on December 22 and gather in HCM City for further training before leaving for Thailand for the finals of the AFC U23 Championship, which is set to take place from January 8 to 26 next year in Thailand.

Vietnam are in Group D with North Korea, Jordan and the UAE.

The three best teams of the tournament, along with Japan, will represent Asia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. If hosts Japan are among the three best teams, the fourth-placed team will earn the last Olympic spot. — VNS

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