On the afternoon of July 12, the U23 Vietnam team finalized the list of 23 official players participating in the 2025 U23 Southeast Asian Championship. Accordingly, the 5 faces saying goodbye to the team are Dinh Hai, Duc Viet, Hong Phuc, Van Cuong and Alex Bui.
U23 Vietnam participated in the tournament as the defending champion for two consecutive seasons (2022, 2023). Therefore, the whole team received great expectations from fans.
Coach Kim Sang-sik affirmed that U23 Vietnam will approach the tournament with a high level of concentration and not be subjective: "Winning consecutive championships is a thing of pride, but we do not want to put too much pressure on the players. Football is a collective sport, I always promote collectiveness and discipline in competition.
I always encourage the players to see this tournament as an opportunity to mature and develop, rather than just aiming for results. The result, in my opinion, will be the natural consequence of that process".
The Korean coach also said that this tournament is also an opportunity for the coaching staff to check and evaluate the force towards the upcoming U23 Asian qualifiers and SEA Games.
"The tournament is an opportunity for us to evaluate the abilities of each player and find combinations for cohesion in tactics. For young players, this is also a valuable opportunity to accumulate international experience," Mr. Kim Sang-sik emphasized.
The 2025 U23 Southeast Asian tournament will take place from July 15 to 29 in Indonesia. In the group stage, U23 Vietnam is in the same group as U23 Laos and U23 Cambodia, competing on July 19 and 22.
