What are U.22 Vietnam waiting for? Let's accelerate!

Indonesian youth football is not too scary when it does not use naturalized players.

There will be quite a few players in the U.20 generation who are participating in the Asian tournament of the Indonesian and Thai teams participating in the 33rd SEA Games in 2025. Notably, with the U.20 Indonesia, most of the defenders of this team participating in the 2025 U.20 Asian tournament are on the list of players participating in the 2024 AFF Cup, a force that the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) once announced would be the core of the U.22 Indonesia team participating in the 33rd SEA Games.

Vietnamese football is simultaneously holding the two most important titles in Southeast Asia: AFF Cup champion and U.23 Southeast Asia champion. Will U.22 Vietnam win the SEA Games 33 gold medal at the end of this year?

These defenders include central defender Kadek Arel, Sulthan Zaky, left-back Dony Tri Pamungkas, also captain of the Indonesian U20 team. Among them, Kadek Arel and Dony Tri Pamungkas were named in the starting lineup when the Indonesian U20 team met the Iranian U20 team. However, the defenders mentioned above still could not prevent Iran from scoring 3 goals against the young team of the archipelago country (the Indonesian U20 team lost 0-3 in the end).

Coach of the Indonesian U.20 team participating in the 2025 U.20 Asian Cup, Mr. Indra Sjafri, is also the person who can lead the Indonesian U.22 team to participate in the 33rd SEA Games. PSSI is reviewing the achievements of the Indonesian U.20 team at the ongoing Asian Cup, before deciding to officially hand over the SEA Games to coach Indra Sjafri.

Mr. Indra Sjafri is the person who helped the Indonesian men's football team win the 32nd SEA Games in 2023 in Cambodia. Therefore, Mr. Indra Sjafri himself in particular and the Indonesian U.20 team in general are receiving a lot of expectations.

However, it is possible to see a huge difference between Indonesian teams when they have naturalized players and when they do not have naturalized players. In the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, the reason why the Indonesian national team can compete with strong teams is because they use a squad consisting mostly of players of European origin. When they do not use naturalized players, Indonesian teams are not scary.

At the 33rd SEA Games this year, if the young Indonesian team does not have any additional players of European origin, they will not be too strong compared to U.22 Vietnam, especially in the context that coach Kim Sang-sik's team at this time is very different from coach Troussier's team at the SEA Games 2 years ago.

Thai youth football is changing its force.

Like U.20 Indonesia, U.20 Thailand participated in the 2025 Asian tournament with the aim of screening more talents, preparing for the force to attend the 33rd SEA Games at their home ground later this year.

U.22 Thailand (blue shirt) wants to change the color of the SEA Games medal

The young football team of the land of the golden pagoda had hoped that two Thai players, including central midfielder John Miettinen (1.81 m, currently playing for Swedish club Orebro SK) and right winger Erawan Garnier (1.80 m, currently playing for French club Olympique Lyon) would play for the U.20 team of this country to compete in the U.20 Asian tournament, after which they would continue to be prepared to join the Thai U.22 team to participate in the SEA Games.

However, at the last minute, this plan failed because the clubs of the two players mentioned above did not agree to "release" John Miettinen and Erawan Garnier to the Thai youth teams, in tournaments outside of FIFA Days.

Previously, Thailand lost central defender Jonathan Khemdee, right-back James Beresford, and two excellent strikers Suphanat Mueanta and Teerasak Poeiphimai (both 23 years old) in the SEA Games campaign, after the Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee reduced the age of participation from 23 to 22. Thailand is currently keen to add good players to its U.22 team in the near future, but their lack of success at the U.20 Asian Cup could make their personnel selection plan more difficult.

In terms of playing style, U.20 Thailand has not shown any breakthrough in the opening match against U.20 Japan at the Asian tournament (losing 0-3 overall). As long as Thai youth football has not had a breakthrough in personnel and playing style, Vietnamese youth teams have every chance to defeat them. The U.22 Vietnam team will also have that opportunity at the SEA Games, because while Thailand is still struggling to build a new force, we have somewhat shaped a quality young player framework, trained a lot throughout 2024.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u20-indonesia-thai-lan-tham-bai-o-chau-a-u22-viet-nam-doi-gi-ma-khong-but-toc-185250215121341314.htm