U22 Vietnam at SEA Games 33: Nothing to fear from Malaysia!

U23 Vietnam is given maximum conditions to prepare for the race at SEA Games 33 (photo by Huu Pham)

According to the results of the draw for men's football at the 33rd SEA Games, the U22 Vietnam team is in Group B with Malaysia and Laos. At first glance, this is a rather "difficult" group when U22 Vietnam has to face U22 Malaysia, while the host Thailand in Group A only includes Cambodia and Timor Leste.

However, in reality, apart from the old reputation, the current young generation of U22 Malaysia does not have any truly outstanding faces. Most recently at the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship in Indonesia, U23 Malaysia was eliminated early in the group stage.

It seems that focusing too much on the policy of using naturalized players in the national team has caused the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to lose focus on the youth. Therefore, although the Malaysian team with a "huge" naturalized squad won big against the Vietnamese team in the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup, their youth team did not play successfully.

According to statistics, in recent confrontations between the two sides, the results also lean towards U23 Vietnam. This partly comes from the fact that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) still focuses on youth training. As stated by Vice President Tran Anh Tu, the use of naturalized players in the Vietnam national team needs to be carefully considered in relation to ensuring a foundation for long-term development.

Compared to regional rivals, the Vietnam U22 team has also been carefully prepared by the VFF to compete in the 33rd SEA Games. This year alone, in addition to two major tournaments including the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship and the 2026 Asian U23 Qualifiers, the Vietnam U23 team has also been given the opportunity to train in the UAE.

Young players like Dinh Bac, Thanh Nhan... were also called up by coach Kim Sang-sik to join the Vietnam national team to learn and gain experience. It can be said that VFF has focused all its efforts on the goal of winning gold medal at SEA Games 33.

The challenge for U22 Vietnam will only come from the semi-finals when coach Kim Sang-sik's team can face strong opponents like Indonesia or the very ambitious host Thailand.