Thai newspaper comments on U22 Vietnam's incident at SEA Games 33

(Dan Tri) - Siam Sport (Thailand) expressed concern about the fact that U22 Vietnam was late for the first training session at SEA Games 33 due to traffic jam.

According to the plan, U22 Vietnam will have their first practice session in Bangkok at 5pm on December 1st at RBAC University Stadium, a location about 20 minutes away from the hotel. However, due to traffic jams in Bangkok, the team arrived nearly 30 minutes late, completely disrupting the preparation schedule.

U22 Vietnam first training session in Thailand (Photo: VFF).

Due to the shortened training time, the coaching staff was forced to adjust the training program of U22 Vietnam. The team only performed light exercise and relaxation for about 40 minutes, before ending the training session.

Commenting on the incident of U22 Vietnam, Siam Sport newspaper wrote: “Traffic jam caused disaster! The first training session of U22 Vietnam lasted only 40 minutes before facing Laos in the opening match of SEA Games 33”.

In the article, the author commented: “The U22 Vietnam team had to face traffic congestion in Bangkok, causing the team to arrive at the training ground nearly 30 minutes later than expected. Therefore, the first training session before the opening match against the Laos team only lasted 40 minutes.

The “Golden Star Warriors” encountered problems even before the tournament started. After departing from the hotel in Hua Mak area to the training ground at Rattana Bundit University (RBAC University) on the afternoon of December 1, U22 Vietnam got stuck in a serious traffic jam.

This forced the coaching staff to urgently adjust the training plan, only doing light warm-ups and stretching exercises, before getting in the car to return to the hotel to recover.

Coach Kim Sang Sik's team is determined to win the 33rd SEA Games Gold Medal (Photo: VFF).

Speaking to the press, the Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said that the difficult traffic problem in Bangkok had been anticipated by the entire U22 Vietnam team early on, thereby proactively planning their travel to ensure the team was not affected.

“The whole team's training atmosphere is very good. Everyone is ready for the upcoming matches,” Mr. Tran Anh Tu emphasized.

In response to the question about the confrontation with U22 Laos in the opening match, Vice President Tran Anh Tu affirmed that the preparation of U22 Vietnam is a long process. He added: “If we look at the time of concentration after the round of 16 of the national cup, or the fact that some players of Hanoi Police arrived late to concentrate, we can see that the time is urgent. But in reality, U22 Vietnam has been stable and has been training continuously for the past year.

We had three training trips in China, a quality training trip in Qatar, won the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, and then won all the qualifying rounds for the 2026 Asian U23 Championship. That was a thorough and consistent preparation process to help the team reach the best condition for the 33rd SEA Games.”

The match between U22 Vietnam and U22 Laos will take place at 4:00 p.m. on December 3 at Rajamangala Stadium.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-thai-lan-binh-luan-ve-su-co-cua-u22-viet-nam-o-sea-games-33-20251202183101653.htm