Vietnam U22 makes strong progress, Thailand U22 coach speaks from the heart

(Dan Tri) - With the strong progress of U22 Vietnam, coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul of U22 Thailand did not hesitate to rate coach Kim Sang Sik's team as the number one candidate at SEA Games 33.

Most recently, U22 Vietnam caused a big surprise when defeating U22 China at the Panda Cup. In theory, U22 China is still a strong team at the Asian level, and they have home field advantage. Therefore, U22 Vietnam's victory over U22 China shows the progress of the team under coach Kim Sang Sik.

Coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul of Thailand U22

The next notable thing is that U22 Thailand is also training in China, but they were not invited to participate in the Panda Cup 2025 (with the presence of U22 Vietnam, Korea, Uzbekistan and host U22 China). That shows that U22 Vietnam is highly appreciated by the international football world.

Speaking about U22 Vietnam, coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul of U22 Thailand commented: “Based on what I witnessed at the Southeast Asian tournament in July, I think U22 Vietnam is our biggest opponent at SEA Games 33. Next are the U22 teams of Indonesia and Malaysia.”

“Those are the most formidable names at the SEA Games taking place in December this year. Of course, I don’t dare to underestimate the remaining opponents,” coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul added.

U22 Vietnam just won against U22 China at Panda Cup 2025 (Photo: VFF).

At the 33rd SEA Games, U22 Vietnam is in Group B with Laos and Malaysia. Group B will compete in Songkhla province. Meanwhile, Group A has Thailand, Timor Leste and Cambodia, this group will compete in Bangkok. Group C has Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar and Singapore, Group C will compete in Chiang Mai.

Also at the SEA Games, U22 Thailand is considered the biggest rival of U22 Vietnam, thanks to the home field advantage of the Thai team. U22 Thailand is actively preparing its forces for the Southeast Asian Games .

Coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul shared: “Basically, our team was formed from the qualifying round of the U23 Asian Cup (in early September). We will add some new faces in this training session in China.”

"This is the last training session of U22 Thailand before SEA Games 33. It has been a long time since Thai football has won a SEA Games gold medal," coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul continued.

SEA Games 33 officially takes place from December 9 to December 20, with men's football competition starting from December 3.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/u22-viet-nam-thang-tien-manh-hlv-u22-thai-lan-noi-loi-that-long-20251114125543185.htm