Coach Kim Sang-sik's 'defeated general' said something profound about U.23 Vietnam and Indonesia, made a surprising prediction...

Both coaches Garrath McPherson (Philippines U.23 team) and Thawatchai Damrong (Thailand U.23 team) highly appreciated the Vietnam U.23 and Indonesia U.23 teams before the final match of the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23.

Unpredictable

U.23 Philippines is the only team to face both U.23 Vietnam (lost 1-2 in the semi-finals) and U.23 Indonesia (lost 0-1 in the group stage) in this tournament. Therefore, coach McPherson understands the two teams in the final and has made an assessment: "They have different playing styles with different systems. The final match will be heavy on tactics, where both will want to probe the opponent carefully. I am very eager to see how it plays out. It will be a very attractive, very interesting match with 2 different tactical diagrams, 2 coherent playing styles. In the semi-finals, U.23 Vietnam played very patiently to win. Meanwhile, U.23 Indonesia went through 120 difficult minutes against U.23 Thailand and the penalty shootout was really nerve-wracking. It is difficult to predict the score of this match, so I will not say specifically."

The U.23 Indonesia team (left) and the U.23 Vietnam team are considered to be equally matched.

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

Thailand considers U.23 Vietnam and Indonesia as main opponents

In this tournament, the U.23 Thailand team was also a championship candidate, but stopped in the semi-finals after losing to the U.23 Indonesia team in a penalty shootout. The "Little War Elephants" only won the bronze medal and coach Thawatchai affirmed that the whole team will try again and make more efforts in the next major tournaments. In 2025, the two remaining important campaigns for teams in the region are the 2026 U.23 Asian qualifiers and the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand.

Convincingly defeating the Philippines, U.23 Thailand won the bronze medal in the final.

When asked who are the opponents of the U.23 Thailand team in winning the SEA Games gold medal, coach Thawatchai commented: When talking about the top teams in Southeast Asia, we cannot help but mention Indonesia and Vietnam. They will also be our main opponents in the journey to win the SEA Games gold medal. In addition, other teams have also made great progress, so we must not be subjective or underestimate any opponent. We need to come back and practice more to improve."

The final match between Vietnam U.23 team and Indonesia will take place at 8:00 p.m. on July 29 at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

Watch the full 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 Football Championship Mandiri Cup™ on FPT Play, visit http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bai-tuong-cua-hlv-kim-sang-sik-noi-dieu-sau-cay-ve-u23-viet-nam-va-indonesia-du-doan-bat-ngo-185250729005031048.htm