U.23 Vietnam will win the championship with V-League resources, why not?

Yesterday, December 1, U.23 Vietnam left for Thailand with the goal of winning the 33rd SEA Games gold medal. Coach Kim frankly admitted that he was a bit nervous because of the pressure but still firmly stated 'we will try our best to bring victory back'.

The defeat against arch-rival U.23 Indonesia at SEA Games 32 will probably still be a valuable lesson, one of the reasons leading to that defeat is the experience factor. However, at SEA Games 33, the team led by coach Kim Sang-sik is highly appreciated in terms of experience when most of the young players are playing in V-League and have been trained in other harsh arenas.

A GATHERING OF YOUNG MATURE TALENTS

The U.23 Vietnam team of 2025 only has 4 players who participated in the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia 2 years ago: Van Khang, Quoc Viet, Thai Son, Thanh Nhan. These important factors will become important pieces in the young and combative squad that Mr. Kim built. A series of new faces, a younger generation of players have appeared, but it is certainly not an immature army.

The U.23 Vietnam team is very focused on the first training session in Thailand.

PHOTO: NHAT THINH

Who will be the main goalkeeper for U.23 Vietnam?

That talented team has been well prepared with the championship at the U.23 Southeast Asia tournament and the winning journey in the U.23 Asia qualifiers to get a ticket to the 2026 U.23 Asia Finals. More importantly, all members of U.23 Vietnam are players currently playing in the V-League.

There are regular starters and important players in professional clubs such as Van Khang (The Cong Viettel ), Trung Kien (HAGL); Thai Son or Quoc Cuong are all indispensable players in the midfield of Thanh Hoa Club and Ho Chi Minh City Police Team. PVF-CAND Team also uses a group of young stars such as Thanh Nhan, Hieu Minh, Anh Quan, Xuan Bac. The fact that Thanh Nhan and Quoc Viet have had super goals or Van Khang and Le Phat often have assists that lead to goals in V-League shows the basic and real value of the quality of U.23 Vietnam's personnel.

A team with distinct personalities

It is a fact that the Vietnam national team or the U.23 Vietnam team coached by Mr. Kim Sang-sik are not teams with a beautiful style of ball control and proactive attack. But in return, they are teams with personality, well organized and very difficult to defeat.

A team rich in personality

Particularly in the U.23 age group in 2025, under the guidance of coach Kim, Van Khang and his teammates are having a winning rate in official tournaments. 7 wins, scoring 8 goals and only conceding 2 goals in the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship and the U.23 Asian qualifiers, including 5 clean sheets. Under Mr. Kim, the U.23 Vietnam defense system is built in a stable and solid manner with quite safe choices. Goalkeeper Trung Kien and the trio of central defenders Ly Duc, Hieu Minh, Nhat Minh are the top choices. The strengths of these players are that they all have standard physical shape, personal skills, and modern football thinking. Particularly, Ly Duc and Hieu Minh also have good aerial ability. Both have scored headers for U.23 Vietnam in recent tournaments.

In addition, the attacking situation on the flank with accurate crosses from Phi Hoang and Van Khang combined with the ability to move, choose positions and finish quickly and sharply from Dinh Bac, Quoc Viet and Cong Phuong are also effective solutions for U.23 Vietnam when they want to break down the opponent's tight defense.

It is true that U.23 Vietnam is not yet very comprehensive and does not possess a beautiful attacking style of play, but this will be a strong team, with experience and courage when being trained in the V-League environment. That team is tightly organized by the experience and strategic talent of coach Kim, who is very lucky with short-term concentrated tournaments.

Notably, U.23 Vietnam has also forged some effective, highly lethal moves. This will be the basis for Mr. Kim and his team to be able to go to the final match of men's football and win the highest glory at this SEA Games.

H RESPONSE IN THAILAND

On the afternoon of December 1, U.23 Vietnam had their first training session on the football field of RBAC University, not too far from where the team stayed at The Quarter Ramkhamhaeng by UHG Hotel (Bangkok). The cool weather helped the players to be very excited and happy to start the exercises with the ball on the well-maintained grass. Vice President of VFF, team leader Tran Anh Tu assessed that all members of U.23 Vietnam are very confident and eager to wait for the opening match against Laos at 4:00 p.m. on December 3 at Rajamangala Stadium.

Linh Nhi

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-viet-nam-se-vo-dich-bang-nguon-luc-v-league-tai-sao-khong-185251201221939434.htm