U.23 Vietnam will be stronger in the Asian qualifiers

The Southeast Asian championship provides a favorable spiritual foundation and gameplay, creating a springboard for U.23 Vietnam to successfully conquer the 2026 U.23 Asian qualifiers.

U.23 Vietnam has understood coach Kim's philosophy

When coach Kim Sang-sik took over the U.23 Vietnam team at the end of June, concerns arose. First of all, Mr. Kim had not had time to work with the U.23 Vietnam team, so he could not evaluate the young players' abilities to find suitable tactics. At the same time, many U.23 Vietnam players could not compete for a position in the Vietnam national team, raising a big question: Can the Korean coach's formula for success in the national team be applied to the U.23 generation?

However, the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship and 4 consecutive wins dispelled doubts. In just 2 weeks of training, Coach Kim Sang-sik created a united team with high fighting spirit, along with lightning-fast attacking tactics suitable for human quality.

Due to limited working time, Mr. Kim focused on fixed pieces, training transitions and speedy counterattacks (which only took a few days to form). Thanks to suitable tactics, U.23 Vietnam scored 7 out of 8 goals in the tournament with high balls. Mr. Kim had time to assess the overall ability of the next generation of the Vietnamese team.

The 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 Championship has become a premise for U.23 Vietnam to become more proficient and confident as the 2026 Asian U.23 qualifiers are approaching.

U.23 Vietnam still has a lot of potential for development.

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

THOROUGH SCREENING

"The U.23 Vietnam squad will change in the 2026 U.23 Asian qualifiers. Although I am satisfied with the performance of the current squad, the coaching staff will look for new faces," coach Kim Sang-sik told Thanh Nien . Similar to the national team level, the U.23 Vietnam squad will witness continuous personnel changes and "blood changes". The youth team is built to move forward. Anyone who cannot keep up with the speed required by coach Kim will be left behind.

The presence of new players such as Xuan Bac, Hieu Minh, Anh Quan… at the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament shows that coach Kim Sang-sik always opens the door to everyone. He declared that "opportunities are divided equally, just need to practice hard". In the training session at the end of August, there will be more young faces called up, mainly from the V-League.

Good news for coach Kim when PVF-CAND Club (the precious gem of U.23 Vietnam) has a ticket to play in V-League. Before the Asian qualifying round, Hieu Minh and his teammates will have 3 matches in V-League to gain experience, instead of waiting if they are still in the first division.

Group C will be broadcast live onFPT Play and VTV

Coach Kim Sang-sik is likely to give opportunities to young overseas Vietnamese players, typically Tran Thanh Trung (a new player of Ninh Binh Club). Thanh Trung was born in 2005 and was in the top 3 best young players of the 2024-2025 Bulgarian Championship. At the age of 20, he has a place in the CSKA Sofia first team with 62 matches. Although he had a difficult start when he only played 40-50 minutes in the first matches for Ninh Binh (due to not being used to the weather), once he has integrated, he will be a promising player, worth testing for Mr. Kim.

Meeting weaker opponents such as U.23 Yemen, U.23 Singapore and U.23 Bangladesh in the 2026 AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers is also a favorable "practice" for U.23 Vietnam to shape their attacking style and increase ball control, which are aspects that need improvement. Coach Kim's team will change both personnel and tactics to become stronger every day.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-viet-nam-se-manh-hon-o-vong-loai-chau-a-185250813213527234.htm