Thai newspaper: 'Our youth are falling behind'

After the Thai U23 team only won third place at the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, the Thai media had harsh assessments of the current form and quality of the squad. Thairath newspaper commented that the country's U23 players are weaker than strong opponents in the region such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

Although U23 Thailand defeated the Philippines in the third-place match, the semi-final defeat after a penalty shootout against Indonesia prevented the team from achieving their goal of at least reaching the final. This is considered a disappointing result for Thai football fans, because the tradition and potential of this country's football is highly appreciated in the Southeast Asian region.

Thairath newspaper analyzed that the main reason for the poor performance of the Thai U23 team is that the current force is not strong enough and lacks players with truly outstanding quality. Most of the players in the team are not key players in their home clubs, which makes them lack experience in top competition and makes it difficult for them to fully demonstrate their abilities when entering international tournaments.

In addition, Siam Sports newspaper found that the traditional style of Thai football, which relies heavily on ball control and short coordination, was not as effective as expected in the recent tournament. Thailand seemed to have lost sharpness in their playing style and lacked confidence and cohesion in attacking situations. This led to the team not creating many dangerous opportunities and being easily predicted by opponents.

Thai media believes that these are signs that the U23 team of this country is in need of a more comprehensive reform and development in terms of personnel and tactics. Experts and fans expect that the team will learn many valuable lessons from this Southeast Asian tournament, thereby making more careful preparations for upcoming important events, such as the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers and the 33rd SEA Games.

In particular, both of these major tournaments are held at home in Thailand, so the pressure and expectations for the team are very high. Thairath and many other sports newspapers hope that the U23 Thailand team will significantly improve their playing style and performance to not only achieve good results but also affirm the position of the country's football in the Southeast Asian region.