It is even more interesting when Vietnamese football scored a hat-trick of U23 Southeast Asian championships. Remember that recently, in addition to the only time Indonesia won the SEA Games gold medal, for 2 consecutive years (2019, 2021), Vietnam was also the owner of the gold medal in men's football at the regional sports festival.
A team with depth
This fact shows that Vietnamese football has become the real "boss" of Southeast Asian football at the national team level; in addition, there is also the runner-up position of Hanoi Police Club at the 2025 Southeast Asian Club Cup (Shopee Cup).
Despite the forecast of many difficulties, because regional football has strong fluctuations, especially the situation of massive naturalization at all levels in some countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, despite that, U23 Vietnam has convincingly won the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. The final match took place at Bung Karno home stadium with tens of thousands of Indonesian spectators, which could not make it difficult for the young Vietnamese players. U23 Vietnam won in a match where the decisive factor was the calmness, coolness, and clear tactical imprint of the Korean coach.
Through this tournament, Vietnam has introduced a team with depth, even level, good physical condition, suitable for the modern football environment. Tran Trung Kien, Pham Ly Duc, Nguyen Van Truong, Nguyen Dinh Bac... have begun to open up new hopes for Vietnamese football after the 2018 Thuong Chau generation that made a strong impression in major playgrounds such as the 2018 Asian Games, 2019 Asian Cup and 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
From September 3 to 9, 2025, at Viet Tri Stadium ( Phu Tho ), the Vietnam U23 team will host Group C, the qualifying round of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, along with the Yemen, Singapore, and Bangladesh U23 teams. To win a ticket to the final round of the AFC U23 Championship taking place in Saudi Arabia (January 2026), we must either win the group stage or become one of the four best second-placed teams. In the past, Vietnam U23 has won tickets to the final round 5/6 times the tournament was held.
Vietnam U23 reached the final of Changzhou 2018, and reached the quarterfinals in 2022 and 2024. Vietnam has become a "regular guest" of the U23 Asian Cup, with its current strength, it will not be difficult for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team to repeat that. Along with the goal of the U23 Asian Cup, there is also the goal of winning the SEA Games gold medal at the end of the year in Thailand.
Through what has just happened, it can be seen that when using local players, the ability of young players of the Indonesian and Malaysian teams is not too worrying. Although the Philippines has many overseas players, their level is only average. As for Thailand, they will certainly prepare carefully because they are the host of the 33rd SEA Games. However, compared to previous generations, the current generation of Thai players has a much lower level.
Fans are delighted with the championship of U23 Vietnam (right) at the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. Photo: VFF
Aiming for further goals
In January 2026, Saudi Arabia will host the AFC U23 Championship. This is the last tournament held every two years. Later, this tournament will be held every four years, coinciding with the Olympics (firstly Los Angeles 2028 in the US) to select representatives to participate in Olympic football. Surely, the Southeast Asian U23 champions will have many names that Coach Kim will call up to the Vietnam national team in the near future. Therefore, VFF needs to work with clubs to create the best conditions for young players to regularly play in the V-League. This is extremely important for the future of the Golden Star Warriors, who will be the pillars of the national team in the near future.
The Vietnamese team is the current champion of the ASEAN Cup 2024 (AFF Cup), combined with the hat-trick of Southeast Asian championships 2025 that the U23 Vietnam team just won, domestic fans are looking forward to greater ambitions for Vietnamese football in the future, not just being satisfied with what they have.
The current U23 Vietnam team has many players aged 20-22 such as Tran Trung Kien, Pham Ly Duc, Le Viktor, Nguyen Van Truong, Khuat Van Khang, Nguyen Dinh Bac... but have accumulated a lot of battle experience. If they only get to play more in the V-League, this generation of players will be confident enough to win the SEA Games gold medal at the end of this year.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/tu-hat-trick-vo-dich-cua-u23-viet-nam-196250730213245644.htm
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