Ho Chi Minh City, March 1 (IANS): The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) confirmed on Tuesday that former captain Nguyen Huu Thang will sign a two-year contract to be the head coach of the national squad.

Thang, who takes over the reigns from Japanese Toshiya Miura, will be tasked with coaching Vietnam to the finals of AFF Cup 2016 and helping the Under-22 side win gold at the South East Asian Games 2017, reports Xinhua.

Miura was fired in January. Miura has helped Vietnam's Olympic team advance to the knock-out round of the 17th Asian Games in South Korea, the national football squad to the semi-finals of AFF Cup 2014, and to the final round of AFC U-23 Championship for the first time.

However, the Japanese coach was criticised for making the Vietnamese team play in an offensive way.

Thang, 43, played for Vietnam between 1996-2002.

Vietnam face Chinese Taipei on March 24 and Iraq on March 29 in the World Cup 2018 qualifiers.