A surprising twist in the Asian bronze medal match: Who is younger, Vietnam U23 or South Korea U23?

Many believe that South Korea's U23 team, fielding a young squad to face Vietnam's U23 team in the bronze medal match of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, will surely be a surprise.

Dinh Bac wore the captain's armband for the Vietnam U.23 team and was the tallest captain of the South Korea U.23 team.

Photo: Ted Tran

Vietnam U23 had a fair fight with South Korea U23.

Entering the bronze medal match, coach Kim Sang-sik made nine changes compared to the semi-final, retaining only Nhat Minh and Thai Son. Surprisingly, according to Sofascore statistics , the average age of the starting lineup for the Vietnam U23 team was 21.2 (since January of 2026 is not yet in effect).

Even more surprisingly, the average age of the South Korean U23 starting lineup was also 21.2. In fact, in terms of age, Van Thuan of the Vietnamese U23 team was the youngest on the field at only 19 years old, followed by goalkeeper Cao Van Binh and center-back Min-Ha (20 years old).

These statistics showed that the bronze medal match was a completely fair encounter between two teams of the same age, with coach Kim Sang-sik's players taking the lead twice, 1-0 and 2-1, thanks to goals from Quoc Viet and Dinh Bac.

Van Thuan's dribbling disrupted the South Korean U.23 defense.

Photo: Ted Tran

Vietnam U23's victory was even more deserved because, despite being down a player at the end of the match and conceding an equalizer in the last 30 seconds of regular time, we still kept a clean sheet in extra time and defeated South Korea U23 in the penalty shootout with a score of 7-6.

Vietnam U23 is making rapid progress.

Not only have they closed the gap in points, but the Vietnam U23 team has also significantly reduced the technical gap, which was once described as "vast," with top Asian teams like South Korea U23.

Specifically, the average height of the Vietnamese U23 players in the bronze medal match was 1.76 m. This is an impressive figure, only 3 cm shorter than the South Korean U23 team, which is known for being among the tallest in Asia (1.79 m).

Vietnam U23 secured a convincing victory against South Korea U23.

Photo: AFC

Moreover, the total value of the Vietnam U23 squad is not significantly different from that of the South Korea U23 squad, at 1.5 million euros (approximately 47 billion VND) and 1.9 million euros (59 billion VND) respectively.

Naturally, these gaps will widen over time, as Korean stars developing in professional football environments in the K-League, J-League, or major leagues in Europe and Asia will increase in value far beyond that of Vietnamese U23 players who only play domestically.

However, it's gratifying to see this as a significant step forward for Vietnamese football, as we were able to convincingly defeat a team of comparable strength from South Korea, a nation still considered the second strongest in Asia.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/goc-bat-ngo-tran-tranh-hcd-chau-a-u23-viet-nam-va-u23-han-quoc-ai-nho-tuoi-hon-185260125105619729.htm