U.22 Thailand and U.22 Vietnam are running together
While U.22 Vietnam is gathering its squad to go to China in March to participate in an international friendly tournament, U.22 Thailand also has its own roadmap towards the 33rd SEA Games.
The young team of the Golden Temple country will go to Doha (Qatar) to participate in the Doha Cup 2025 in March. The opponents of U.22 Thailand include many strong teams, such as host U.22 Qatar, U.22 Australia, U.22 Egypt, U.22 Croatia and U.22 UAE.
The matches here will give U.22 Thailand valuable experience to accumulate before the 33rd SEA Games, a tournament in which Thailand is determined to reclaim the men's football gold medal after 3 consecutive missed tournaments.
Coach Kim Sang-sik may reunite with Thailand at SEA Games 33
U.22 Thailand also wants to prepare thoroughly for the tournament where coach Takayuki Nishigaya and his team have to fight for the host's honor. There is no longer any laxity like in SEA Games 30 or 31, when the "War Elephants" have a systematic training and friendly match plan from this point on.
The appointment of Mr. Nishigaya also shows the ambition of U.22 Thailand. It is a fact that in the last 3 SEA Games, the position of head coach of U.22 Thailand was not given much attention by the Football Association of Thailand (FAT). At SEA Games 30, the young team of the Golden Temple country was led by coach Akira Nishino, who was also in charge of the Thai national team at that time. At SEA Games 31, Mr. Mano Polking was in charge of both the national team and U.22 Thailand.
The Thai formula of one coach leading two teams only stopped at SEA Games 32, when the "hot seat" was held by coach Issara Sritaro (Mr. Polking still leads the national team). However, the modest stature and class of this coach became a weakness, causing U.22 Thailand to only be able to finish second after a shameful "melee" with U.22 Indonesia in the final.
The head coach position of Thailand U.22 was only really invested in by FAT at SEA Games 33, when Mr. Takayuki Nishigaya was appointed as head coach. Mr. Nishigaya has 20 years of experience in Japanese football in many positions (assistant, coach), then 2 years leading the Singapore team.
Thailand has two different coaching teams in the national team and U.22.
Thai football has been following the path of "Japanization" for many years. When the Thai national team is led by a Japanese coach, it is understandable that the U.22 Thailand team also belongs to a coach from the land of the rising sun.
The difficulty of U.22 Vietnam
In the preparation for SEA Games 33, it is clear that coach Nishigaya of Thailand U.22 has an advantage over coach Kim Sang-sik of Vietnam U.22.
Because Mr. Nishigaya only focuses on the U.22 team. The Japanese coach has a separate team from the national team. He focuses on training and directing matches with young Thai players.
Meanwhile, coach Kim Sang-sik is in a situation of "both grinding rice and carrying a baby", leading two teams at the same time. This can lead to inconvenience. For example, in March, Mr. Kim will take charge of the Vietnam team to play a friendly match with Cambodia (March 19) and compete with Laos (March 25) in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. The U.22 Vietnam team that will go to China for a friendly match will be managed by someone else.
The Vietnam team will be "full" of FIFA Days this year, with training sessions in March, June, September, October and November. Coinciding with this period, the Vietnam U.22 team will be training for the 2026 AFC U.23 qualifiers (September) and still have to prepare for the SEA Games. Therefore, coach Kim Sang-sik is facing a tight schedule.
Mr. Kim's assistant team can be up to 12-15 members, but to coach two teams at the same time, that is probably not enough. Coach Park Hang-seo has been successful when taking charge of both teams, but remember, that was when the Vietnam national team and the U.22 team had many overlapping players.
Right now, these are two separate teams, requiring different approaches, training and tactics.
Thailand and Indonesia both chose to appoint different coaches for the national team and U.22. Only Vietnam follows the "2 in 1" model. Is that okay?
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u22-thai-lan-co-hlv-khung-de-lay-hcv-sea-games-u22-viet-nam-can-hanh-dong-185250221134510908.htm
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