Contrary to expectations, U23 Thailand could not win the Southeast Asian U23 Championship. They lost to U23 Indonesia in the semi-finals after a penalty shootout. After that, the “War Elephants” only received a consolation third place after defeating U23 Philippines.
After the tournament, Thairath newspaper admitted that now U23 Thailand is at a lower level than U23 Vietnam and U23 Indonesia.
Thairath newspaper admitted that Thailand U23 is at a lower level than Vietnam U23 (Photo: FAT).
Thailand's leading newspaper commented: "Thailand U23 finished the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament in third place. This is a disappointing result. Thai football once again failed to achieve its goal in the Southeast Asian regional tournament.
If they cannot win the championship, the team must at least reach the final of the tournament. This is the second consecutive time that U23 Thailand has not been able to participate in the final match. Previously, the team also only finished third in the 2023 tournament.
The previous two times, this generation of players also failed to win the title, finishing runners-up in 2019 and 2022. Thai football always talks about the goal of surpassing the level of Southeast Asia, but recent results show that competition in the region also brings problems. How can we go further?
Vietnam U23 won the Southeast Asian U23 Championship for the third consecutive time (Photo: VFF).
We have to admit that the current U23 Thailand team does not have enough potential or strength to overcome U23 Indonesia or U23 Vietnam. The main reason is that if you look at the squad list, up to 90% of the players were not the pillars of the club last season, whether in Thai League 1, Thai League 2 or lower leagues.
When players do not play regularly, they will lose confidence, lack development opportunities, battle spirit, and professional quality.
Notably, U23 Thailand did not send its strongest squad to the U23 Southeast Asian tournament because some clubs did not release their players. The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) is also looking forward to two more important tournaments, the U23 Asian qualifiers and the 33rd SEA Games. However, it is clear that the Thai teams continuously losing the title in the Southeast Asian region is also an alarming signal. Earlier this year, the Thai team also lost to the Vietnamese team in the final of the AFF Cup 2024.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-thai-lan-thua-nhan-su-that-khi-so-sanh-doi-nha-voi-u23-viet-nam-20250801095227279.htm
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