Strong opponent
The U17 Southeast Asian championship will add confidence to U17 Vietnam towards the 2026 AFC U17 Championship finals.
A year ago in Saudi Arabia, the generation of players born in 2008 - 2009 and coach Roland went through a journey full of emotions. The team had 3 draws with the same score of 1-1 against U17 Japan, U17 Australia and U17 UAE. However, 3 points after 3 matches were not enough for U17 Vietnam to overcome the group stage and win a ticket to the U17 World Cup.
Currently, the U17 Vietnam force has changed almost completely. In addition to Chu Ngoc Nguyen Luc and Nguyen Van Duong who have made progress in the past time, Mr. Roland must refresh the squad with the generation born in 2009 and later.
The team's opponents in the group stage of the 2026 AFC U17 Championship, including U17 Korea, U17 Yemen and U17 UAE, also changed most of their personnel according to age regulations from the Asian Football Confederation.
In the context that this is the first continental tournament in the career of many new faces, the unpredictability when assessing the level, competitive bravery, and mentality to play through each match will be a significant challenge for any coach or team.
However, it is undeniable that U17 Korea has always been the top strong team in Asia. This is also the highest "mountain" in the group stage that U17 Vietnam has to face. For more than 40 years since the AFC U17 Championship finals were present, the young team from the land of kimchi has won the championship twice.
A noteworthy detail, the U17 South Korea force participating in this tournament is the players who are in the first generation to apply the "Made in Korea" philosophy, with local coaches directly training according to the lesson plan, a philosophy imbued with the identity of this nation. That is strong in dispute, fiery when on the field and heroic when facing real combat.
Up to this point, the 23 Korean players participating in the 2026 AFC U17 Championship are all playing in K.League 2 and 3 youth teams. Their preparation is quite thorough when playing 3 friendly matches against U17 Indonesia (winning 6-0), U17 Thailand (winning 2-0) and U17 India (winning 2-1).
Unpredictability
According to the regulations of the 2026 AFC U17 Championship, the first and second place teams in each group in the group stage will participate in the quarterfinals, and also have tickets to the 2027 U17 World Cup. In the context that U17 Korea is a very strong opponent, U17 Vietnam must consider earning the highest points against 2 teams with equivalent level, U17 UAE and U17 Yemen.
With U17 UAE, this is the 2nd time in 2 years that coach Roland's team has the opportunity to compete. Last year, the team drew 1-1 against the West Asian representative to the regret of many players. Because if they had won 3 points, U17 Vietnam could have participated in the World Cup.
According to the press, the U17 UAE force participating in this AFC U17 Championship possesses a modern playing style, speed and international competition experience in the past year. The brightest star of U17 UAE is Jayden Adetiba, who trained at the Arsenal youth academy (England). Adetiba's technique and good penetration ability are challenges for Manh Cuong, Dang Khoa, Hoang Viet or goalkeeper Xuan Hoa.
U17 Yemen also drew 1-1 against U17 Vietnam in the 2025 AFC U17 Championship qualifiers. In this year's qualifiers, they continued to show their strength when they won all 5 matches against Pakistan, Laos, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia and Guam.
This is a team with diversity in attack and breakthroughs in state transitions. Although not rated as highly as U17 South Korea or U17 UAE, U17 Yemen is always a dangerous unknown, ready to create unpredictable matches. Yemen's lines are all capable of scoring goals such as Al Nuaimi, Tawfik, Basheer, Sadeq, Al-Wesabi, Al-Qufaili...
Coach Roland admitted that the opponents of U17 Vietnam will be very different from the U17 Southeast Asian championship journey in Indonesia recently. However, the Brazilian coach also revealed that the team will proactively and flexibly use tactics to aim for positive results against each opponent.
