Vietnam U23 and the 'secret weapon' for SEA Games 33

28/10/2025 14:14:00 PANDATV

In 2025, the Vietnam U23 team has three key missions: the Southeast Asian U23 Championship, the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, and SEA Games 33. Up to now, coach Kim Sang Sik’s squad has excellently completed two of these three tasks by winning the Southeast Asian U23 Championship and earning a direct spot in the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Cup, leaving SEA Games 33 in Thailand as the final challenge.

It goes without saying how tough this final challenge is, because after losing in the men's football finals in two consecutive SEA Games (2022, losing 0-1 to Vietnam U23, and 2023, losing 2-5 to Indonesia U23), the host Thailand is surely eager to reclaim the number one position in regional football.

Up to now, Thailand remains the symbol of men's football at the SEA Games with a total of 16 gold medals, but since their last championship in 2017, Thailand has not won any men's football gold in the last three SEA Games, and hosting this event presents the perfect chance for Thai football to restore its top status.

However, the challenge facing coach Kim Sang Sik’s team at SEA Games 33 is not only Thailand but also familiar rivals like Indonesia and Malaysia. What these teams share is that their senior national football teams have encountered various issues recently, and they are eager to achieve top results in a youth tournament like SEA Games to regain confidence.

Therefore, the competition level in men's football at the upcoming SEA Games 33 is expected to be extremely intense, and the Vietnam U23 team under coach Kim Sang Sik will face numerous difficulties and challenges if they want to achieve the goal of winning gold.

Coach Kim Sang Sik is surely planning his personnel selections for Vietnam U23 to target the men's football gold medal at SEA Games 33. Photo: Hoang Linh

One notable detail in Kim Sang Sik’s journey with Vietnamese football is that both his cup victories with the senior and U23 Vietnamese teams occurred away from home—specifically the 2024 ASEAN Cup in Thailand and the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship in Indonesia. Moreover, his teams triumphed by defeating the host nations in the finals.

This record gives Vietnamese fans additional confidence and hope before the U23 team departs for Thailand to pursue the SEA Games 33 men's football gold. However, this statistic is only supportive; the main factor remains the performance of Kim Sang Sik’s players on the pitch.

In this respect, the Vietnam U23 team has shown relatively stable and positive performances in the last two tournaments—the Southeast Asian U23 Championship and the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers—but it seems Kim Sang Sik has not yet utilized all his resources and still holds a "secret weapon" reserved for SEA Games 33.

These are the overseas Vietnamese players who have not yet appeared in the two mentioned tournaments, such as Tran Thanh Trung (Ninh Binh) and Vadim Nguyen (SHB Da Nang).

Last weekend, Thanh Trung made his first start for Ninh Binh Club, delivering a highly skillful one-touch assist to Dos Anjos for the second goal in their 3-1 victory over hosts PVF CAND. If he continues this form, Thanh Trung could become an important choice for coach Kim Sang Sik at SEA Games 33.

From now until the Vietnam U23 team finalizes its SEA Games 33 roster, perhaps coach Kim Sang Sik will discover more players like Thanh Trung to surprise opponents on the journey to winning the men's football gold in Thailand.

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