Not a risky move.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF)'s purpose in sending the Vietnam U.21 team to the 20th Asian Games is to prepare for the 2028 U.23 Asian Championship, as well as to compete for a ticket to the 2028 Olympics. This is a long-term strategy, similar to what Japanese football is doing.
The Vietnam U.21 team currently has a very strong squad.
Photo: TED Tran
Importantly, even though Vietnam is only participating with an U.21 squad, Vietnamese football can still spring surprises at this year's Asian Games. The reason is that we possess a very promising generation of 21-year-old players. At this age, four players performed exceptionally well at the 2026 U.23 Asian Championship: goalkeeper Cao Văn Bình (21 years old), midfielders Lê Văn Thuận (20 years old) and Nguyễn Công Phương (20 years old), and striker Nguyễn Lê Phát (19 years old). Adding goalkeeper Phạm Đình Hải (20 years old), there are a total of five 21-year-old players named in the Vietnam U.23 squad for the U.23 Asian Championship in January.
Among those who did not participate in the U.23 Asian Championship , at the U.21 age group, there are center-back Dinh Quang Kiet (19 years old), Nguyen Manh Hung (21 years old), left-back Nguyen Bao Long (21 years old), midfielders Le Dinh Long Vu (20 years old), Nguyen Vadim (21 years old), Nguyen Quang Vinh (21), Nguyen An Khanh (21), striker Nguyen Dang Duong (21), Tran Gia Bao (18)... This force is enough to create a deep squad for Vietnam U.21. Notably, many of them, such as goalkeeper Cao Van Binh, Dinh Quang Kiet, Nguyen Manh Hung, and Nguyen Vadim, have extensive experience playing in the V-League. Therefore, they are expected to cause surprises at ASIAD 20.
Are Malaysia and Indonesia lagging behind Vietnam in youth football?
This is something that football in the Southeast Asian region lacks. Indonesian and Malaysian football officials recently expressed regret at not qualifying for the ASIAD like Vietnam.
Malaysian youth football has lagged far behind Vietnamese football in terms of achievements in recent years.
Photo: Nhat Thinh
The Secretary General of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) stated: "Indonesia prepared its squad for the 20th Asian Games 1-2 months ago. However, if this is the decision from the host nation Japan, I believe it is irreversible. I will contact the Indonesian Olympic Committee to seek an official answer regarding the Asian Games participation."
Meanwhile, the New Straits Times of Malaysia stated bluntly: "The exclusion of the Malaysian U23 team from the list of participating teams at the 20th Asian Games is a wake-up call for the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). The Malaysian U23 team was not allowed to participate in the Asian Games, while the Vietnamese and Thai U23 teams secured this spot. Malaysia's decision to abandon its domestic U23 league was a mistake."
The biggest difference between Vietnamese football and Indonesian and Malaysian football in recent years is that while Vietnamese football has a very good youth training system and well-organized youth tournaments, Malaysian and Indonesian football mainly rely on naturalized players.
When naturalized players failed to meet expectations, the Indonesian U23 team missed out on qualifying for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, while the Malaysian U23 team consistently lost to the Vietnamese U23 team in recent SEA Games (2022, 2023, and 2025), the Southeast Asian U23 Championship (2023), and the AFC U23 Championship (2022 and 2024). Now, as Vietnamese football has moved towards a long-term goal similar to Japanese football, which is to send its U21 team to the 20th Asian Games, the remaining football nations in the region are still grappling with the question of why they were eliminated from the Asian Games.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/viet-nam-mang-u21-da-asiad-van-co-the-tao-tieng-vang-ca-dong-nam-a-uoc-ao-185260213143627064.htm
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