U20 Vietnam has just shown its potential, the road to the World Cup is still far away

About 14-15 U20 Vietnam players will be selected by coach Philippe Troussier to prepare for the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. These players have shown potential, but there is still a long way to go. In the near future, in the next few years, they will have to accumulate practical experience, especially by playing regularly in professional tournaments.

Van Khang and Van Truong will soon be 'planned'

Right from the time he led the U18 Vietnam team, Coach Philippe Troussier assessed that the two generations of players from 2001-2003 and 2003-2005 had the qualities to create a big boost for Vietnamese football, after the golden generation of Cong Phuong and Quang Hai. At that time, he identified the group of players from the 2001-2003 generation as leaning towards defensive ability. Meanwhile, the 2003-2005 generation possessed many promising attacking players.

Players like Khuat Van Khang are soon in coach Philippe Troussier's calculations for the future.

That has been proven by the 2003-2005 generation in the past two years. Khuat Van Khang, Nguyen Van Truong, Nguyen Quoc Viet and Bui Vi Hao have performed well at the national team and youth club tournaments they participated in.

Vi Hao was the top scorer of the National U21 team. Van Truong was the best player of the tournament. Quoc Viet led the scoring list from the National U19 team to the Southeast Asian U19 team. Khuat Van Khang, by the age of 19, had played for all levels of the national team (and scored in his first match for the Vietnamese team).

At the 2023 AFC U20 Championship, except for Vi Hao, the remaining 3 players such as Quoc Viet, Van Truong, and Van Khang all showed promise. Van Khang scored 1 goal and 1 assist. Quoc Viet scored against U20 Qatar and U20 Australia. Meanwhile, Van Truong shone when he made his mark on 2 goals for the home team in the victory against U20 Qatar.

Looking at the current list of U20 Vietnam, it is not difficult to narrow down some faces that will be given opportunities by coach Philippe Troussier, even in the training session on March 13. These include Van Khang, Van Truong, Quoc Viet or Van Cuong, Thanh Nhan, Van Binh, Duc Viet. In addition, some players such as Duc Phu, Nguyen Hoang, Manh Hung are also in the potential group to be given the opportunity to join U23 Vietnam.

U20 Vietnam 2-1 U20 Qatar

Waiting to gain experience

Prospect is the most suitable word to evaluate the group of U20 Vietnam players. However, that is not enough for Coach Troussier to gather a strong force for U23 Vietnam towards the upcoming SEA Games or further, the group of 80 elite names for the 2026 World Cup campaign that has been launched right now.

In his second press conference with the Vietnamese media, Mr. Troussier expressed his concern about the lack of real-life experience of the U23 Vietnam team. The French strategist said: “Most of the players in the U23 Vietnam team have not played much in the past 6 months, so they lack real-life experience. I have to put high pressure in training to simulate the intensity of real matches for them. I want the players to get used to playing in sync to aim for victory.”

The story is similar with the current U20 Vietnam. In fact, except for Ho Van Cuong, Dinh Xuan Tien, Bui Vi Hao, Nguyen Duc Phu who are being given the opportunity to compete in professional tournaments including the First Division and V.League by SLNA, B. Binh Duong , PVF – CAND (formerly Pho Hien), most of the players from the 2003-2005 generation have not had the opportunity to experience top-level matches.

Young talents need to gain more experience in the coming years.

Most of them are stuck in the U19 and U21 tournament system, the national third division. Against opponents of the same age, the current U20 Vietnam players find it difficult to mature as quickly as when competing in the national professional tournament.

The cases of Van Khang, Van Truong or Quoc Viet are the opposite, when the number of matches they played for the national team level (ranging from 14-16 matches) is many times greater than the number of matches they played in professional tournaments in the colors of Hanoi FC, HAGL or Viettel .

Of course, this is also understandable when they are playing for the top clubs in Vietnam. Among them, Hanoi FC and Viettel are the permanent candidates for the championship. Therefore, the most reasonable direction for this group of players may be to play on loan at average teams in the V.League or First Division, before they are mature enough to play for the above clubs.

That is also what Coach Troussier is waiting for. He wants to have a large enough accumulation of matches and quality of play for young players. That will help them not only maintain their sense of playing football, maintain their form, but also improve their playing experience, when they are regularly present in the professional league system and at the national team level.

Xuan Phuong

Useful
Emotion
Creative
Unique

Source: https://vtc.vn/u20-viet-nam-moi-the-hien-tiem-nang-duong-toi-world-cup-con-xa-ar746771.html