U20 Vietnam closed the 2027 AFC U20 Championship qualifiers with 3 consecutive defeats against U20 DPRK, Palestine and Iran. This result put coach Yutaka Ikeuchi's team at the bottom of Group C and could not qualify for the finals.
At the same time, due to being in the group of 6 teams with the worst performances, U20 Vietnam also had to be relegated to Development Phase (Development group) in the U20 Asian Cup 2029 qualifiers and did not have the opportunity to participate in the 2029 finals.
After 3 matches, U20 Vietnam only scored 2 goals and conceded 8 goals. This is the worst achievement in the group of Southeast Asian teams that did not pass the qualifiers. U20 Laos also 0 points (goal difference -6), scored 1 goal and conceded 7 times.
U20 Cambodia did not win a ticket to the finals but still got 3 points thanks to 1 win, thereby avoiding being relegated to the Development Phase group.
Meanwhile, U20 Thailand has 6 points, U20 Malaysia has 5 points and U20 Indonesia is at the top with 7 points after an unbeaten record, without conceding a goal.
The relegation of U20 Vietnam means that the next generation of players will not be able to participate in the U20 Asian Cup 2029 qualifiers, which means they will have to wait until the 2031 cycle to be able to return to the qualifiers according to the current schedule.
After the home tournament, coach Yutaka Ikeuchi assessed: "U20 Vietnam played well in the first half, scoring 1 goal, but could not maintain the game in the second half. I am very sorry that this generation of players and the next generation of U20 Vietnam could not participate in the AFC U20 Championship finals.
The current generation of U20 Vietnam has many promising players. However, they lack opportunities to rub against strong opponents. If they can play more, they will improve further. After this campaign, I will learn from experience with the players. I have no further plans for Vietnamese youth football".
Limited forces are also one of the reasons affecting the preparation process. Many experienced players have to play for clubs in professional leagues, making U20 Vietnam unable to gather the strongest squad for a long time.
Most of the current personnel have less experience compared to the maximum age of the Asian qualifiers.
