Launch the campaign to defend the throne

VHO - Coach Kim Sang-sik has just announced the list of 35 players for the Vietnam U22 team to prepare for the Southeast Asian U23 Championship. This is the first official playground in 2025 for Vietnam U22 before the team aims for two other important goals: the 2026 Asian U23 qualifiers and men's football at the 33rd SEA Games.

U22 Vietnam will try to prepare well for the Southeast Asian tournament. Photo: HOANG HO

Expected factors

The most regrettable absence of U22 Vietnam in this training session is striker Bui Vi Hao. At the end of March, Vi Hao suffered a serious injury that required surgery and is expected to take 10 months to fully recover. Vi Hao is a striker who regularly participates in the national team training sessions under coach Kim Sang-sik and played impressively at the 2024 ASEAN Cup.

Despite Vi Hao's absence, the team will welcome the return of another good striker, Nguyen Dinh Bac, who has been a regular in the national team under coach Troussier. This striker is considered the brightest discovery of Vietnamese football in recent years with good individual skills, diverse finishing ability and modern football thinking. Dinh Bac has left his mark at the national team level with a goal against the Philippines in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and a beautiful goal against Japan at the 2023 Asian Cup.

Of the 35 players selected by coach Kim Sang-sik, eight were part of the team that won the 2023 championship, including strikers Nguyen Dang Duong, Le Dinh Long Vu, Nguyen Quoc Viet, midfielders Nguyen Van Truong, Khuat Van Khang, Dinh Xuan Tien, defender Nguyen Hong Phuc and goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien. Most of them continued to assert their positions when they were called up to participate in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship.

Notably, Van Khang, Quoc Viet and Van Truong have also played for the national team in recent training sessions. Another notable young player is midfielder Nguyen Ngoc My. This player is a shining star who helped U19 Dong A Thanh Hoa win the 2023 National U19 Championship and was honored as the tournament's best player. In 2024, Ngoc My continued to win the title of "Top scorer" at the National U21 Championship.

The list of players this time also includes two promising overseas Vietnamese players: midfielder Le Viktor (Hong Linh Ha Tinh ) and striker Bui Alex (team B of Bohemians Praha 1905, playing in the Czech Republic's Third Division). While Le Viktor is performing well in the V.League, Bui Alex just had his first try with the U22 Vietnam team in the gathering in early June.

Bui Alex is a versatile player who plays as an attacking midfielder, winger and striker, and is considered to have good technique, speed, ball control and passing ability, and effective finishing with both feet. The addition of new players such as Bui Alex or Le Viktor will help increase the depth of the squad, while affirming the strategy of proactive integration and finding quality overseas Vietnamese players for Vietnamese football.

Do good preparation

At the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament taking place from July 15 to 31 in Indonesia, U22 Vietnam is in a fairly easy group with Cambodia and Laos. However, the tournament only takes the top 3 teams and the second-placed team with the best record to the semi-finals, so U22 Vietnam will have to be very careful and focused.

In this tournament, opponents such as Thailand, Malaysia, especially the host Indonesia, all bring strong forces, they are also very determined to achieve high results, so the competition is very big. Not only that, the achievement of 2 consecutive regional championships in 2022 and 2023 more or less brings pressure to young Vietnamese players. "Winning the championship is difficult, defending the championship is even more difficult", the tournament in the "island country" promises to bring no small challenges for U22 Vietnam.

Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team are expected to achieve good results in the upcoming regional tournament to create a springboard and better prepare for two more important tournaments in the rest of 2025, which are the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers and the 33rd SEA Games. Vietnam U22 has received many expectations in these tournaments, so in this training session, the coaching staff and players have tried to prepare carefully to be able to compete best in each tournament.

To prepare for this year's goals, U22 Vietnam has had 2 training sessions. The first session took place during FIFA Days in March, the team participated in the CFA Team China international tournament in Jiangsu (China) with strong U22 opponents such as Uzbekistan, Korea and China. The second session took place during FIFA Days in early June with a quality practice match with seniors in the national team.

The recent training and competitions have helped the players gain more international experience, especially in dealing with opponents with different physiques and playing styles. The players have also improved their finishing ability, maintained their concentration and improved their coordination in the tactical system. They have also shown progress and confidence in ball control. The upcoming training session will be an opportunity for the players to demonstrate what they have accumulated over the past time to score points with coach Kim Sang-sik.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/khoi-dong-chien-dich-bao-ve-ngoi-vuong-145125.html