Which cat bit which mouse?

This result once again reflects that Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam remain the leading football nations in the region, not only at the senior national team level, but also at the youth team level, including the U.17 team. Recently, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam have regularly had representatives at various levels participating in the finals of Asian tournaments, while Malaysia, Singapore, and Myanmar have significantly declined.

Currently, the three U.17 teams from Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia will have another competition at the finals taking place next year in Saudi Arabia: competing for the best results in that tournament to prove which country's football is developing better.

Indonesia U.17 secured a spot in the U.17 Asian Championship by finishing second in Group G.

Thailand U.17 impressively tops Group D.

At the 2023 Asian Cup held earlier this year, the Indonesian national team temporarily held the advantage over the Vietnamese national team, reaching the round of 16 while Vietnam was eliminated after the group stage. Furthermore, compared to Thailand (who also reached the round of 16 at the 2023 Asian Cup), Indonesia made a greater impact due to facing stronger opponents (Japan, Iraq, Australia) and progressing at a faster pace. Therefore, this somewhat touched upon the pride of those interested in Vietnamese and Thai football. The Vietnamese and Thai football communities are determined to prove they are not inferior to Indonesian football, and the best way to do this is to perform well in international tournaments where their rivals are present.

Another interesting detail is that the Southeast Asian teams, including Vietnam U.17, Thailand U.17, and Indonesia U.17, have the potential to face each other directly in the 2025 AFC U.17 Championship finals, due to being in different seed groups.

Evaluating the youth football development methods of the three football nations of Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam, former Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) in charge of professional matters, Duong Vu Lam, said: “I believe Thailand still has the best youth development plan. They develop both broadly and deeply, bringing football into schools in the same way that the Japanese are developing youth football. Indonesia has recently included some naturalized players born abroad in their youth teams, similar to how they are building their national team.”

Regarding the youth development of Vietnamese football, I believe the VFF (Vietnam Football Federation) is still on the right track. The problem is that this direction hasn't been fully implemented at the club level, due to financial difficulties faced by many clubs, especially those in the First Division, which haven't given sufficient attention to youth training. Furthermore, Vietnamese youth teams haven't made as much of an impact as in previous years because we currently lack truly outstanding talents like Cong Phuong and Quang Hai in recent generations. However, this is typical of smaller football nations, and Vietnamese young players still have potential if they get more playing time and more international competition.”

Vietnam's U.17 team also squeezed through a narrow gap, securing a ticket to Saudi Arabia.

This means that if the Vietnam U.17 team has good training camps and gets plenty of match practice before the U.17 Asian Championship finals next April, we can absolutely spring a surprise at the tournament and still compete on equal footing with other youth teams from Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Indonesia.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u17-viet-nam-indonesia-va-thai-lan-lai-canh-tranh-tai-chau-a-meo-nao-can-miu-nao-185241028144307191.htm