The continuous injuries of U23 Vietnam players in a short period of time show signs of overload, stemming from the dense concentration and competition that lasted from the end of 2025 to the beginning of 2026.
The latest is the case of striker Nguyen Dinh Bac. At the press conference after the match of Hanoi Police at the C1 Southeast Asian Cup, coach Mano Polking confirmed that the striker born in 2004 suffered an injury during warm-up and could not play.
Previously, midfielder Nguyen Thai Son also suffered a serious injury in the 12th round of V.League in the Ninh Binh vs. Hanoi Police match. In the 70th minute, this midfielder fell to the ground in a non-collision situation.
The diagnosis results showed that he had a severed anterior cruciate ligament, forcing surgery and being out of competition for 9 months to 1 year. This is a type of injury often associated with overload, impaired movement control and accumulated muscle fatigue.
In the last 3 months of 2025 to date, U23 Vietnam has focused on participating in the Panda Cup 2025, followed by SEA Games 33. The whole team has almost no time to rest before competing at the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals.
After finishing the continental tournament with 6 tense matches, the players only have a few days to recover to return to the club to play in the V.League.
Before Dinh Bac and Thai Son, midfielder Van Truong also suffered a ligament rupture at the Panda Cup. Bui Vi Hao relapsed from injury before the AFC U23 Championship. Meanwhile, Hieu Minh suffered a knee ligament rupture in the quarter-final match against U23 China. These are all players who are used with high intensity, with little rest time between tournaments.
In addition to serious injuries, many other U23 Vietnam players such as Trung Kien, Duc Anh, Phi Hoang or Viktor Le continue to be used as soon as the V.League returns. Lack of recovery time may increase the risk of injury and decline in form.
In the context that some U23 players are playing a key role in clubs, the coaching staff needs to make reasonable adjustments to balance between rest time and schedule to avoid unfortunate injuries.
