U22 Vietnam faces 3 heavyweight 'testers' before SEA Games 33, ready to compete for gold medal with Thailand

TPO - The U22 Vietnam team will participate in the international football tournament CFA Team China Panda Cup 2025, taking place in Chengdu (Sichuan, China) from November 12 to November 18, 2025 to prepare for the race for gold medal at the 33rd SEA Games (Thailand).

Young Vietnamese players have had a year of active preparation for the race at SEA Games 33.

The tournament features four highly qualified and potential U22 teams, including South Korea, Uzbekistan, host China and Vietnam. This is also the third consecutive time that the Vietnam U22 team has been invited to participate in the prestigious tournament organized by the Chinese Football Association (CFA).

In their first participation in March 2025, under the leadership of acting head coach Dinh Hong Vinh, the Vietnam U22 team played impressively with an undefeated record (tied with U22 Korea 1-1, drew with U22 Uzbekistan 0-0 and drew with host U22 China 1-1), thereby winning third place overall.

This tournament will be an important preparation step for U22 Vietnam to compete for the SEA Games 33 gold medal in Thailand at the end of the year. According to the recent draw, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team are in group B with Malaysia and Laos. U22 Vietnam is expected to pass the group stage because the only opponent that can cause concern is U22 Malaysia, which is not really strong.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has created favorable conditions for the U22 Vietnam team to prepare carefully in terms of force. This year, the young faces have experienced many tournaments and have achieved good results, including winning the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship and passing the 2026 Asian U23 Qualifiers.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/u22-viet-nam-gap-3-thuoc-thu-hang-nang-truoc-them-sea-games-33-san-sang-tranh-hcv-voi-tien-lan-post1789532.tpo