With the competition venue kept the same, U22 Vietnam has many advantages at the SEA Games.

Specifically, the host team U22 Thailand, instead of competing in the group stage of the men's football SEA Games 33 at Tinsulanon Stadium in Songkhla Province, will be transferred to compete at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok. Traveling with U22 Thailand will be the teams in Group A including U22 Cambodia and U22 Timor Leste.

Defending champion U22 Indonesia and teams in group C, including Myanmar, Philippines and Singapore, instead of playing at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai, will move to play at Tinsulanon Stadium in Songkhla.

Keeping the same competition venue, U22 Vietnam has many advantages at SEA Games - 1

U22 Vietnam has many advantages in terms of competition schedule at SEA Games 33 (Photo: Do Minh Quan).

Only the U22 Vietnam team and the teams in group B including Malaysia and Laos will still compete at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai, according to the old schedule.

In addition to keeping the competition venue of U22 Vietnam, the SEA Games 33 host organization has also outlined the competition schedule for coach Kim Sang Sik's team (Korean).

Accordingly, U22 Vietnam will have their opening match against U22 Laos on December 5. After that, it will not be until December 11 that we will enter the second match of the group stage, against U22 Malaysia. That means U22 Vietnam will have 6 days off before playing the decisive match for a ticket to the semi-finals, against Malaysia.

With the competition venue kept the same, U22 Vietnam has many advantages at SEA Games - 2

U22 Vietnam only played two matches in the group stage, this is another advantage for coach Kim Sang Sik's team (Photo: Do Minh Quan).

On the contrary, our main opponent, U22 Malaysia, will meet U22 Laos on December 8. Then, on December 11, they will face U22 Vietnam. Compared to U22 Vietnam, U22 Malaysia will have a disadvantage of 3 days of rest before the two sides play the decisive match.

Another advantage of U22 Vietnam is that we only play two matches in the group stage. In case U22 Vietnam meets a team from Group C in the semi-finals, Coach Kim Sang Sik's team will have an advantage over their opponents because we play one match less than their opponents (Group B teams only play two matches, Group C teams have to play three matches).

That leads to U22 Vietnam significantly reducing the risk of physical fitness, injury and penalty cards. The path to the final of U22 Vietnam, therefore, is wide open.

With the competition venue kept the same, U22 Vietnam has many advantages at SEA Games - 3