For U.17 Vietnam to reach the World Cup dream

B AN HUONG HAU TRAINING

On February 12, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) announced the contract with technical advisor Yukata Ikeuchi. The Japanese expert joined the U.17 Vietnam coaching staff as an advisor, playing a supporting role in professional work such as analyzing opponents, planning gameplay, adapting tactics and training young players... for head coach Cristiano Roland. Mr. Ikeuchi is considered to have extensive experience as he has coached U.15 and U.17 Japan, along with a period of time teaching as a coach.

U.17 Vietnam (right) will gather again in March.

As soon as VFF sent the profile to Mr. Ikeuchi, the National Coaching Council approved it, with the belief that the Japanese expert would bring what Vietnamese youth football lacked, which was strategic vision, along with standard player training methods to reach Asian level.

Advisor Ikeuchi and Coach Roland are expected to work well together to raise the level of U.17 Vietnam. While Mr. Ikeuchi has a lot of experience and understands U.17 Japan (the strongest opponent that U.17 Vietnam has to face in the group stage), Coach Roland is good at morale work. The Brazilian strategist has revived the team that lost 5-0 to Indonesia in the Southeast Asian tournament, to become a fighting force, defeating both Japan and Uzbekistan in the international friendly tournament at the end of last year.

The challenge for coach Roland and expert Ikeuchi is that the U.17 Vietnam team has not had much time to hone their skills. 12 out of 23 players participating in the 2025 U.17 Asian qualifiers are playing for teams in the V-League, but only Tran Gia Bao (HAGL) has been promoted to the first team to try out. The rest have either not been registered for the V-League, or are just on the bench for first-class teams. Coach Roland saw this reality when sharing with Thanh Nien: "The VFF has tried to bring youth tournaments, but the reality is that the U.17 players only have 8 to 15 matches per year. That number is too small for players to get used to the pressure of competition. They will not get into the rhythm of preparing for a match well, and will easily be surprised by the pressure."

To overcome this, U.17 Vietnam will prepare as best as possible. The entire team will gather next March for long-term training. The preparation plan is being finalized by VFF and advisor Ikeuchi, mainly combining domestic training and friendly matches abroad for players to gain experience and find cohesion in their playing style. At the Asian finals, U.17 Vietnam will compete with U.17 Japan, U.17 Australia and U.17 UAE for 2 tickets to the next round, which is also the gateway to the U.17 World Cup 2025. Coach Roland affirmed: "The coaching staff must prepare carefully, right from the player selection stage. The whole team will complete all stages in the most thorough manner, from screening and concentrating forces, training, strengthening the playing style, training more offensive and defensive tactics or improving the players' mentality and physical strength".

U.17 THAILAND FINALLY

Not only U.17 Vietnam, Southeast Asian teams are also racing for a ticket to the U.17 World Cup 2025. In a difficult group with U.17 Saudi Arabia, U.17 Uzbekistan and U.17 China, the U.17 Thailand team is determined to create a surprise by bringing in two Thai-American players, Silva Mexes and Kai Laws. Both of these "young shoots" are highly appreciated, when Kai Laws plays for U.17 Nottingham Forest, and Mexes is a potential star of the MU youth academy. Impressive physique, modern thinking and training experience in the world's leading football environment will help Mexes and Laws promise to raise the level of U.17 Thailand.

To create the best conditions for Thailand U.17, President of the Football Association of Thailand Madam Pang planned to bring the team together from February 15 to train for 1 month in the country. Then on March 15, the team left for Qatar to train at the Aspire Academy, which has some of the best facilities in Asia. On March 26, the team went to Saudi Arabia to get used to the competition conditions. With nearly 2 months of training and 2 Thai players returning from England, Thailand U.17 is determined to pass the group stage to get a ticket to the World Cup.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/de-u17-viet-nam-cham-toi-giac-mo-world-cup-185250212214809954.htm