Southeast Asia U23 has many surprises, is it worth worrying about Vietnam U23?

The opening matches of the U23 Southeast Asian tournament had a series of surprising results that made fans ask: should we be worried about the journey of U23 Vietnam and coach Kim Sang Sik?

Many surprises

After the first matches, the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament is witnessing a series of teams that were underestimated creating unbelievable surprises.

U23 Timor Leste, from a place that was not highly rated, created an "earthquake" when they held U23 Myanmar to a 4-4 draw despite being continuously behind by 2 goals.

U23 Timor Leste creates big surprise at U23 Southeast Asia tournament

Or U23 Philippines brought to Indonesia many student players (average age under 20) and made U23 Malaysia - a team that is often in the group of candidates for the semi-finals in regional youth tournaments - suffer a 0-2 defeat.

Although U23 Laos could not maintain the victory after taking the lead, they still forced U23 Cambodia to share points in the opening match of Group C.

These results prove that: youth football, especially in Southeast Asia, is getting closer and closer in terms of level and surprises can happen at any time.

Is it worth worrying about U23 Vietnam?

Faced with the unpredictable and surprising results mentioned above, fans are asking whether coach Kim Sang Sik and his team should be worried? The answer is: not really.

Youth football is inherently full of variables, but U23 Vietnam entered this year's tournament with a force that is superior to the rest. In coach Kim Sang Sik's squad, there are many players who have fought in the V-League, some others have played for the Vietnam national team or U23 participated in major tournaments not once but many times in the past few years.

But that doesn't mean we should worry too much about U23 Vietnam.

Compared to teams with an average age of around 20 like Laos, Philippines or Cambodia, or the host team Indonesia, U23 Vietnam is clearly on a different level in terms of experience and competitive spirit.

Besides, the opponent's unexpectedly good performance is not necessarily a negative thing. On the contrary, this forces the coaching staff and the U23 Vietnam players to calculate more carefully, avoiding subjectivity and complacency.

In terms of strength and squad depth, U23 Vietnam is still at another level. And the biggest opponent in this tournament is probably not any specific team, but the focus and determination of Coach Kim Sang Sik's students.

Highlights U23 Myanmar 4-4 U23 Timor-Leste:

Watch the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Football Championship live and in full on FPT Play, visit http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/u23-dong-nam-a-nhieu-bat-ngo-co-dang-lo-cho-u23-viet-nam-2422961.html