Vietnam U23 is full of courage, Indonesia U23 is ambitious before Southeast Asian tournament

Ambition of U23 Indonesia and U23 Malaysia

U23 Indonesia is theoretically the number one candidate for the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. The team from the archipelago has home field advantage. All of the team's matches take place at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium (Jakarta, Indonesia), famous for its huge capacity (nearly 78,000 spectators).

U23 Việt Nam giàu bản lĩnh, U23 Indonesia tham vọng trước giải Đông Nam Á - 1 — U23 Indonesia (red shirt) determined to stop U23 Vietnam (Photo: VFF).

In addition, the U23 Indonesia squad is also very strong, more than half of their players participating in this year's tournament have appeared at the AFF Cup 2024. Thanks to wearing the national team jersey in a competitive tournament like the AFF Cup, the courage and experience of many U23 Indonesia players are very good.

Also in the U23 Indonesia team participating in the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament, there is naturalized Dutch striker Jens Raven. This is a mysterious factor of the young team of the archipelago country.

Jens Raven has a great advantage in terms of physique (1m89 tall), very dangerous in aerial combat. Supporting Jens Raven will be familiar striker Hokky Caraka, who has 11 appearances for the Indonesian national team, scoring 2 goals. This will be one of the most notable striker pairs of the 2025 U23 Southeast Asian tournament.

In the group stage, U23 Indonesia is in the same group with U23 Malaysia. The young team of Malaysia is also a name that receives attention. Malaysia's force is not as strong as Indonesia's, but the spirit of Malaysian football is very high, after their national team was ranked strongly on the FIFA rankings.

At the same time, the victory of the Malaysian national team over the Vietnamese team in the Asian Cup qualifiers in early June brought confidence to this young football team, ahead of the U23 Southeast Asian tournament.

Current U23 champion Vietnam and former champion Thailand quietly show their mettle

While Indonesia and Malaysia are on the rise, the other two major football powers in Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Thailand, seem to be less brilliant. The path to the championship title of this year’s U23 Vietnam and U23 Thailand is also predicted to be full of thorns.

U23 Việt Nam giàu bản lĩnh, U23 Indonesia tham vọng trước giải Đông Nam Á - 2 — U23 Vietnam has many players playing in V-League (Photo: VFF)

However, in any case, do not underestimate the representatives of the big football countries. U23 Thailand has some very notable faces playing professionally, such as national midfielder Seksan Ratree (Buriram United) or striker Yotsakorn Burapha (Chonburi United). These faces can bring a breakthrough for U23 Thailand.

As for U23 Vietnam, coach Kim Sang Sik's team has been well prepared for this year's tournament, with the squad being strictly screened through many rounds.

U23 Vietnam is also quite experienced in professional competition, with many players having regular places to play in the V-League.

These people include goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien, central defender Pham Ly Duc (HAGL), midfielder Nguyen Van Truong (Hanoi FC), Khuat Van Khang (The Cong Viettel ), Nguyen Thai Son (Thanh Hoa), Viktor Le (Ha Tinh), striker Nguyen Dinh Bac (Hanoi Police Club)...

The U23 Vietnam forward line seems a bit weak due to Bui Vi Hao's injury. However, the rest of the team is quite strong, enough to help coach Kim Sang Sik's team compete with the strongest teams in this year's tournament. The 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship will start today (July 15) and last until July 29.