Vietnam Football in 2023: More Successes Than Failures

Except for the disappointing 19th Asiad, Vietnamese football had a successful 2023 in many tournaments at different team levels, from men's to women's, national team to youth team.

Coach Philippe Troussier in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup - Photo: HOANG TUNG

2023 is about to end. Let's review with Tuoi Tre Online the highlights of Vietnamese football in 2023, welcoming 2024 with many interesting challenges.

Signed a contract with coach Philippe Troussier

2023 is considered a new journey for Vietnamese men's football. Saying goodbye to coach Park Hang Seo, Vietnamese men's football signed a contract with coach Philippe Troussier for the mission of conquering the World Cup dream.

In the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, the Vietnamese team has a chance to advance to the third qualifying round after beating host Philippines 2-0 and losing to Iraq 0-1 at My Dinh Stadium.

Although there are still things to overcome in building a new playing style and personnel, the Vietnam national team and U23 Vietnam under coach Philippe Troussier also have positive points to look towards the future.

Women's football sets record at SEA Games 32

The Vietnamese women's team set a record by winning the gold medal for the fourth consecutive time at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia after defeating Myanmar in the final.

This SEA Games was not an easy one for coach Mai Duc Chung and his team as many of the Philippine women’s team players are playing in Europe. The Philippines defeated Vietnam 2-1 in the group stage, but were still eliminated due to a goal difference.

With the 4th gold medal, Vietnam became the most successful women's football team in SEA Games history with 8 gold medals.

Vietnam women's team makes history at SEA Games 32 - Photo: NGUYEN KHOI

A World Cup to Remember

For the first time in history, the Vietnamese women's football team competed in a World Cup. In New Zealand, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team played with great effort against the defending champions USA, the runners-up Netherlands and Portugal.

Despite not being able to score any goals and being the team that conceded the most goals in the group stage (0/12), the Vietnamese women's team still left a memorable image on the world stage.

Notably, the opening match only lost 0-3 to the US, a number much lower than the predictions of experts and fans before the opening match.

Goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh also left her mark with an excellent save from the legendary Alex Morgan's penalty. The International Football Federation (FIFA) later wrote an article, "Now American fans know who Kim Thanh is."

Goalkeeper Kim Thanh (in yellow shirt) and the Vietnamese women's team had a memorable 2023 Women's World Cup against the US women's team - Photo: REUTERS

Asiad disappointment

After the impressive 2023 Women's World Cup, the Vietnamese women's team had high expectations at the 19th Asian Games. However, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team were eliminated from the group stage despite having a great chance of advancing. The reason was subjective.

In the opening match, the Vietnamese women's team only won 2-0 against weak opponent Nepal. So despite winning 6-1 against Bangladesh before losing 0-7 to Japan, the Vietnamese women's team had to stop playing early.

Vietnam Olympic team (right) in the loss to Saudi Arabia Olympic team - Photo: VFF

The Vietnamese Olympic team had a good squad but also played quite poorly at the 19th Asian Games and was eliminated right from the group stage. In the opening match, coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team barely beat weak opponent Olympic Mongolia 4-2, then lost to Olympic Iran 0-4 and Saudi Arabia 1-3.

Youth men's football makes its mark

The Vietnam U23 team won the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship in Thailand after defeating Indonesia U23 7-6 in the penalty shootout (0-0 draw in regular time) in the final match.

Notably, this is the second consecutive time that Vietnamese youth football has won the Southeast Asian U23 Championship after the first time in 2022 in Cambodia.

Not only did coach Hoang Anh Tuan lead Vietnam U23 to victory at the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, he also led the Vietnam U20 team to make a splash at the 2023 Asian U20 Championship in Uzbekistan.

U20 Vietnam had 2 wins against U20 Australia (1-0), U20 Qatar (2-1) and only lost to U20 Iran (1-3) in the last round. This result helped U20 Vietnam have the same 6 points as U20 Iran and U20 Australia but was unfortunately eliminated due to losing to the 2 opponents on goal difference.

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team celebrate winning the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship - Photo: VFF

Shocking in AFC Champions League

On December 6, Hanoi FC created an "earthquake" at My Dinh Stadium when they defeated defending champion Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) 2-1 in the final match of the 2023-2024 AFC Champions League group stage.

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That victory not only helped Hanoi FC have a beautiful farewell with 2 victories in the continental playground but also turned Urawa Red Diamonds FC into a former champion. That surprising defeat made the Japanese representative and the press of this country unable to believe it.

VAR makes V-League more interesting - Photo: MINH DUC

V-League has VAR

Not only is the national championship (V-League) organized for the first time over 2 years like world football, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and Vietnam Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) have also officially introduced video assistant referee (VAR) technology into the tournament in 2023. Although the presence of VAR has only taken place in matches from Ha Tinh to the North, it has contributed to reducing errors for referees. In the first 8 rounds of the tournament, VAR has greatly helped referees in making accurate decisions. If there are 2 more VAR cars in 2024, VAR will be applied throughout Vietnam's football fields. This is a positive thing to look forward to.

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