U20 Vietnam closed the 2027 AFC U20 Championship qualifiers with 3 consecutive defeats against North Korea, Palestine and Iran. This result prevented the team from winning a ticket to the finals next year, and also fell into the Development group in the next qualifying round.
Assessing this result, Mr. Tran Anh Tu - Vice President of VFF said that the preparation process of U20 Vietnam has encountered certain impacts on the force.
The fact that U20 Vietnam did not qualify for the Asian finals is regrettable. We have prepared quite carefully, but the plan is affected because a series of young players are not included in the national team. Some managing clubs keep players to prepare for domestic tournaments.
Saying'failure' of the plan is not right, but the team also lost quite a lot of personnel. For example, Le Phat only went to U20 Vietnam to play 1 match and then returned. The Japan training squad in August until the tournament is played is only half. That is the coach's difficulty," Vice President Tran Anh Tu said.
Besides personnel issues, the relative physique and fitness of the teams also create differences. The three opponents of U20 Vietnam are all rated higher in terms of physical foundation.
The opponents are 3 teams: DPRK, Iran, Palestine, which are strong teams, with physique and fitness better than Vietnam. Most of us lost in the 2nd half when fitness was not guaranteed. Those are the necessary experiences to improve," Mr. Tu added.
The defeat in the qualifiers also forced U20 Vietnam to play in Development Phase, thereby unable to participate in the 2029 AFC U20 Championship qualifiers. The team needs to achieve good enough results to return to the qualifiers in 2031. This is also the time when the U17 Vietnam team participating in the 2026 U17 World Cup will enter the U20 age group.
Previously, VFF reviewed the preparation and competition process of U20 Vietnam, assessed the work of coach Yutaka Ikeuchi and transferred the Japanese expert to another position.
Regarding the next plan, Vice President Tran Anh Tu said that the Vietnam U19/U20 team has not finalized the head coach. In the near future, this generation of players will participate in the international tournament in China from November 9 to November 17.
In addition, right now, VFF has begun to build a plan, which aims to prepare early for the U17 players, in order to create a foundation for the U19 and U20 Asian tournaments in the coming years.
