U23 Southeast Asia 2025: Vietnam and Thailand reach the semi-finals, 2 teams are eliminated

U23 Vietnam won big on the opening day, reaching the semi-finals of U23 Southeast Asia 2025. (Source: VFF)

U23 Vietnam and U23 Thailand both had big wins to get off to a good start at the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament.

The Vietnam U23 team had an impressive opening performance when they easily won 3-0 against Laos U23 in the second match of Group B.

Khuat Van Khang and Nguyen Hieu Minh (double) took turns scoring to bring three points to the defending champions.

This victory gives Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team a big advantage in the competition for a ticket to the semi-finals of the U23 Southeast Asia tournament.

Currently, U23 Vietnam is leading Group B with 3 points, 2 points more than the two opponents in the same group, U23 Cambodia and U23 Laos (having played 2 matches).

This means that the "Golden Star Warriors" only need to draw with U23 Cambodia in the final round to advance straight to the next round.

This is something that Mr. Kim Sang-sik and his team will not find too difficult to achieve when U23 Cambodia is considered inferior.

Sharing after the opening match, the Korean "captain" said: "U23 Laos played tight defense from the first minutes. However, my players tried hard to find opportunities and scored the opening goal. The important thing is that we maintained a balance between defense and attack to control the game as well as preserve the result."

However, he was also cautious when saying: "The whole team needs to focus on each match according to the plan and set goals. This is the most important thing right now, we should not think further" when asked about potential opponents in the semi-finals.

According to the schedule, U23 Vietnam will play the final match of the group stage against U23 Cambodia at 10:00 p.m. on May 22.

Along with U23 Vietnam, U23 Thailand also had no difficulty winning all 3 points on the opening day when they had a resounding 4-0 victory over U23 Timor Leste.

Yotsakorn Burapha, Thanawut Phochai, Seksan Ratree and Chawanwit Sealao were the ones who scored against U23 Timor Leste to help U23 Thailand win.

This result helps the U23 Thailand players get the first 3 points, leading Group C and only need to draw with U23 Myanmar in the last round to get the first position in the group.

Previously, in Group A, the host team Indonesia was leading with 6 points, followed by U23 Philippines, U23 Malaysia (both with 3 points) and U23 Brunei (0 points).

U23 Indonesia is dominating their opponents, but they will need to be careful when they face U23 Malaysia in the final round. If they lose, the home team will likely be eliminated right after the group stage ends.

Meanwhile, the U23 Philippines team only has to meet U23 Brunei in the last round and the possibility of this team winning big against their opponent is very high.

In addition to the names that have a chance to continue, up to this point, AFF Cup 2025 has officially determined the two eliminated teams: U23 Laos and U23 Timor Lester.

According to Vietnam+

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/u23-dong-nam-a-2025-viet-nam-va-thai-lan-cham-tay-ve-ban-ket-2-doi-bi-loai-196024.htm