U23 Vietnam - U23 Indonesia (8pm today): Explode to win the championship

*The final match of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship between U23 Vietnam and U23 Indonesia will take place at 8:00 p.m. tonight (July 29), at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium (Jakarta, Indonesia). Dan Tri will report this match online.

For the second consecutive time in the U23 Southeast Asian tournaments, U23 Vietnam and U23 Indonesia will meet in the final. In the most recent tournament in 2023, U23 Vietnam defeated U23 Indonesia in Thailand, after a penalty shootout.

U23 Việt Nam - U23 Indonesia (20h hôm nay): Bùng nổ để lên ngôi vô địch - 1 — U23 Vietnam is ready to score against U23 Indonesia (Photo: VFF).

This time, U23 Indonesia has home field advantage. The young team from the archipelago country will play at the giant Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, which can accommodate up to 77,000 spectators. Audience pressure is something that U23 Vietnam will certainly face in the final match taking place tonight.

In addition, unlike the last tournament in 2023, this year's tournament, U23 Indonesia has many national players in the squad. The main members of the current U23 Indonesia team participated in the 2024 AFF Cup. U23 Indonesia's competition experience is quite good.

However, speaking of experience, the U23 Vietnam players do not lack experience in high-level competition. Most of the members who regularly appear in the official lineup of the U23 Vietnam team in this year's Southeast Asian U23 tournament regularly play in the professional tournament V-League.

Some other players in the hands of coach Kim Sang Sik such as goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien, center back Pham Ly Duc, midfielder Khuat Van Khang are national players, often called up to the national team recently.

In addition, striker Nguyen Dinh Bac is a former national player who participated in the 2023 Asian Cup and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia. These players will be the backbone of the U23 Vietnam team heading towards the final.

U23 Việt Nam - U23 Indonesia (20h hôm nay): Bùng nổ để lên ngôi vô địch - 2 — Van Truong's experience will be a support for U23 Vietnam (Photo: VFF).

At the same time, they combined with a number of experienced, mentally strong players such as midfielder Nguyen Van Truong and center back Nguyen Hieu Minh to become a support for their teammates around them, helping the whole team play calmly and be ready to explode in the famously passionate "fire pan" Gelora Bung Karno.

The more calmly U23 Vietnam plays, the more chances they have to overcome their opponents at the dangerous Gelora Bung Karno. The calmer the players are, the more accurate we are in our finishing moves, this has been U23 Vietnam's weakness since the beginning of the tournament.

The calmer we are, the better the defenders cover each other, overcoming the weakness in the ability to mark and prevent high balls in set pieces. This weakness is the reason why the U23 Vietnam team has conceded two goals in the past 3 matches (two group stage matches and the semi-final match).

Overcoming these weaknesses, U23 Vietnam will have a chance to defeat U23 Indonesia. Even if U23 Vietnam is forced to take a penalty shootout with U23 Indonesia, we still have the advantage.

First, the young Indonesian team is not very good at taking 11m penalties. They overcame U23 Thailand in the semi-finals after this penalty shootout, partly due to the controversial decision of the referee, denying a successful save by the U23 Thailand goalkeeper.

Second, U23 Vietnam won U23 Indonesia in a penalty shootout two years ago. Now, if we take another penalty shootout, we can still win again. Coach Kim Sang Sik's team can completely win the U23 Southeast Asian Championship for the third consecutive time.

Expected lineup:

U23 Vietnam: Trung Kien, Ly Duc, Hieu Minh, Nhat Minh, Xuan Bac, Phi Hoang, Anh Quan, Cong Phuong, Van Khang, Van Truong, Dinh Bac.

U23 Indonesia: Ardiansyah, Missa, Arel, Rudianto, Maulana, Dion, Pamungkas, Darwis, Arjuna, Hanna, Caraka.

Prediction: U23 Vietnam wins 2-1.