As the defending champions, U23 Vietnam entered Group C quite favorably when facing U23 Laos and U23 Philippines. Therefore, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team only had to play two group stage matches. According to the competition format, the 3 group winners and 1 second-placed team with the best record will qualify for the semi-finals.

U23 Vietnam always has the advantage in encounters with U23 Laos. Photo: VFF

The U23 Vietnam squad participating in the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship is mostly young players under 20 years old, but has competed in many international tournaments, including the 2023 U20 Asian Finals, SEA Games 32... Although the Vietnam Football Federation did not assign specific targets, Coach Hoang Anh Tuan affirmed that the goal of U23 Vietnam is nothing other than reaching the finals. In addition, the coach from Khanh Hoa hopes that his students will have experience and challenges to become more mature, thereby being called up to the national team soon.

Although not focusing on the achievement target, U23 Vietnam has made careful preparations for the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. In addition to practicing early in Hanoi, the players recently had a friendly match with U23 Bahrain and only lost on penalties after the two teams drew 1-1 in the official match time. After the tournament in Thailand, this generation of players will continue to become the core of the Vietnam Olympic team participating in the 19th Asian Games (ASIAD 19). To achieve the above goal, U23 Vietnam first needs a victory against U23 Laos to create momentum for excitement.

In recent times, Lao football has made rapid progress, especially with the youth teams. However, they are still not worthy opponents for coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team in the opening match of the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. In the last 5 matches against Laos U23, the victory always belonged to Vietnam U23. Similar to Vietnam U23, Laos U23 brought to this year's Southeast Asian tournament 5 players aged 22, the rest were under 21 years old and many players were 18, 19 years old. Notably, the official goalkeeper of Laos U23 in the match against Philippines U23, Lokphathip, is only 17 years old.

Vietnam U23 players actively practice before the match against Laos U23. Photo: VFF

Before the match against U23 Vietnam, the U23 Laos team drew 2-2 with U23 Philippines. This result is not too surprising because for many years the Philippines has not been highly regarded at the youth level. They have focused less on youth training and are pursuing a policy of naturalizing players for both the men's and women's national teams.

It is likely that U23 Vietnam will not field the strongest squad against U23 Laos but wants to test new elements. Because the main opponents of U23 Vietnam in this tournament are U23 Thailand, U23 Malaysia and U23 Indonesia. However, U23 Vietnam is not allowed to be subjective and just needs to play at full strength to be able to win all 3 points in the opening match. Not only aiming to win, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team also want to show beautiful play with effective operation, few mistakes and especially limit injuries.

The match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Laos took place at Rayong Provincial Stadium (Thailand) - a stadium that the U23 Vietnam coaching staff assessed as quite similar to Binh Duong Stadium in Vietnam. This is also a factor that brings advantages and confidence to coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team.

Notable Statistics

- U23 Vietnam won U23 Laos in the last 5 matches.

- U23 Vietnam scored 11 goals and conceded 2 goals in the last 4 matches with U23 Laos.

- U23 Laos won 1, drew 1, lost 3 in the last 5 matches in all competitions.

- U23 Vietnam lost 3, drew 2 in the last 5 matches in all competitions.

HOAI PHUONG

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