U.23 Vietnam struggles to defend Southeast Asian gold medal

ESCAPE FROM THE SHADOW OF THE VN U.23 TEAM

The Southeast Asian Championship will move from Thailand to Sidoarjo City, East Java (Indonesia), at the newly renovated Gelora Delta Stadium with a capacity of 19,400 seats, scheduled to take place from July 15 to 31. After 2 consecutive championships in 2022 and 2023, the U.23 Vietnam team has become the target to defeat for the rest of Southeast Asia.

The competitiveness in the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament will help coach Kim Sang-sik create new momentum for the U.23 Vietnam team.

Photo: Ngoc Linh

The Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) said that the Indonesian U.23 team will be led by Mr. Gerald Vanenburg, assistant coach Patrick Kluivert of the Indonesian team. After losing to Vietnam in the final of the 2023 Southeast Asian U.23 tournament, Indonesia is eager to get revenge with the national team stars Justin Hubner, Rafael Struick, Ivar Jenner, Marcelino Ferdinand, Muhammad Ferarri... combined with young talents born in 2004 such as Hokky Caraka, Arkhan Fikri, Rahmat Arjuna, Dominikus Dion...

Besides U.23 Indonesia, which has the enthusiastic support of home fans and is naturally considered the top candidate for the championship, the other teams in the tournament also have remarkable preparations.

Having gone empty-handed for three consecutive tournaments, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) is in dire need of the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship title to ease the Thai team's defeat at the AFF Cup 2024. After three consecutive losses to the UAE (0-1), Qatar (1-2) and Croatia (1-3) at the Doha Cup 2025, coach Takayuki Nishigaya announced that he will strongly purify the Thai U.23 squad to increase competitiveness and give opportunities to those who are eager.

The U.23 Malaysia team will be coached by coach Nafuzi Zain, who helped Terengganu FC win the runner-up position in the National Championship and the Malaysian National Cup in 2022 before leading another strong club, Kedah Darul Aman FC, to 4th place in Malaysia in 2023. The captain born in 1978 is expected to breathe new life into "Harimau Muda" after many years of being "on the sidelines" in the U.23 Southeast Asian tournaments.

In addition, reaching the semi-finals of the 2019 and 2022 Southeast Asian U.23 tournaments, respectively, the fact that many Cambodian U.23 and Lao U.23 players are playing for the national team signals that these will be two difficult "dark horses" in the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 tournament.

NEW BOOM FOR VN U.23 TEAM

In contrast to the all-loss record of U.23 Thailand, the U.23 Vietnam team has been undefeated in 3 quality matches against Korea, Uzbekistan and China. In May, the U.23 Vietnam team will continue to concentrate under the direction of interim coach Dinh Hong Vinh, before coach Kim Sang-sik officially takes over the team in July. Mr. Kim has always promoted the expansion of competition and brought sweet results when many young faces were given the opportunity to start to shine. Van Binh, Van Ha, Hieu Minh, Van Truong, Quoc Viet, Thanh Nhan, Viktor Le... made a strong impression in China recently. In particular, V-League is also helping the U.23 Vietnam team have more choices with names that are attracting attention such as young central defender Dinh Quang Kiet (born in 2007, HAGL Club) or 2 strikers Tran Gia Bao (2008, HAGL) and Bui Van Binh (2003, Ho Chi Minh City Club), midfielder Thanh Kien (2003, Binh Duong Club), Cong Phuong (2006, The Cong Viettel)...

Expert Doan Minh Xuong assessed: "The fact that countries in the Southeast Asian region are actively preparing for the 2025 U.23 Southeast Asian tournament is a good sign. This tournament will certainly be highly competitive towards the U.23 Asian qualifiers and the 33rd SEA Games. As for us, since 2024, the VFF has planned to prepare by holding U.22 Vietnam team training sessions in parallel with the Vietnam national team at FIFA Days. Most of the current U.22 Vietnam team are playing in the V-League and the first division, many players regularly play for the national team, helping to reduce the regret when Vi Hao is being treated for an injury. The competitiveness of the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament will be very useful, helping coach Kim Sang-sik continue to renew the squad, maintaining the players' desire. That is the foundation for us to improve the level of a generation, to create a springboard for Vietnamese football to reach the same level as the 2018 Changzhou generation of coach Park Hang-seo".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-viet-nam-gian-nan-bao-ve-tam-hcv-dong-nam-a-185250419225324996.htm