Vietnamese forward Nguyen Quang Hai has been named among the 10 most anticipated young stars at the 2019 Asian Cup, which is set to run from January 5 to February 1 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Vietnamese midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai surrounded by the Philippine players in the 2018 AFF Cup semifinal second leg at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on December 6.

In a recent article published on the website of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the author put the 21-year-old talent of the Vietnam national team first in his list of talents who will “arrive in the UAE full of promise”.

Hai was described as the creative spark in Vietnam’s exciting young team, as he is “composed in possession, aware of those around him and boasts the ability to pick out teammates in a way that few others can”.

The left-footed midfielder is superb from dead-ball situations, both in terms of crossing and striking from distance, the author said, recalling that Hai finished as the second highest scorer at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship in China earlier this year.

These assessments are definitely not exaggerated when discussing Quang Hai’s exceptional performance over the past year. He was an indispensable choice for coach Park Hang-seo at the AFC U23 Championship and the 18th Asian Games, while significantly contributing to earning Vietnam their second AFF Cup trophy a few days ago. Hai’s amazing displays throughout the tournament were recognised by the organising committee with the “Most Valuable Player” award.

The nine other players on the list include Turki Al Ammar (Saudi Arabia), Hwang In-beom (Republic of Korea), Mohanad Ali (Iraq), Ritsu Doan (Japan), Bassam Hisham (Qatar), Dostonbek Khamdamov (Uzbekistan), Supachai Jaided (Thailand), Khalfan Mubarak (UAE), and Oday Dabbagh (Palestine).

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup features 24 teams divided into six groups of four. Quang Hai and his teammates have been drawn in Group D, together with three Western Asian teams, namely Iran, Iraq and Yemen.

The teams will play a single round robin to decide the top two teams from each group and the four best third-placed teams that will advance to the knockout stage.

Iran and Iraq are considered the toughest opponents for Park Hang-seo’s side in their group stage campaign. In the case of missing out on the top-two spots in Group D, Vietnam will have an advantage in seeking a Round of 16 berth as one of the four best third-placed teams if they can manage to beat Yemen by a wide margin.

Nhan Dan