The Cong Viettel's talent in the national team
6 months before the 33rd SEA Games took place in Thailand, coach Kim Sang-sik officially started the process of building and optimizing the U22 Vietnam force. Through the report of assistant Dinh Hong Vinh in the two training sessions in March and May 2025, Mr. Kim has basically grasped the strength of the players.
With the 2025 U23 Southeast Asian Championship in Indonesia in July being an experimental tournament, the Korean coach decided to expand the calling scale to 35 players, to avoid missing talent.
After a period of focusing on competing in professional tournaments, The Cong Viettel agreed to let the U22 players join the national team. If in the training session 3 weeks ago, Nguyen Dang Duong was the only face participating, in this training session, 3 other names, Nguyen Cong Phuong, Nguyen Thanh Dat and Dang Tuan Phong, were present in the list of coach Kim Sang-sik.
For the past 9 months, Cong Phuong - a midfielder born in 2006 - has not been named in the calls-ups of U22 or the Vietnam national team, despite him being the most outstanding and promising player in this generation of players. Cong Phuong's absence comes from The Cong Viettel wanting him to focus on the first team. In fact, they have given Cong Phuong the opportunity to play 19 times in the V.League - a dream number for a player aged only 18.
In addition to Cong Phuong, central defender Dang Tuan Phong also received great expectations from the U22 Vietnam coaching staff. Previously, Mr. Kim really wanted Tuan Phong in the last 2 training sessions, but The Cong Viettel wanted this central defender to focus all his efforts on competing in the national championship. His situation reading skills, smart playing skills and ability to coordinate the ball from the back helped Tuan Phong be considered one of the best defenders of his generation. That is also the reason why Tuan Phong was given the opportunity to play in 18 matches this season.
The remaining new face of The Cong Viettel to U22 Vietnam is Nguyen Thanh Dat. Last season, this midfielder won the title of "Best Young Player" of the First Division after being loaned to Binh Phuoc for 1 season.
Dong Ngoc My, Quang Kiet show themselves
The other two new players of U22 Vietnam in the upcoming gathering are Nguyen Ngoc My (Thanh Hoa) and Dinh Quang Kiet (Hoang Anh Gia Lai). In fact, if he had not suffered an injury in March, assistant Dinh Hong Vinh had included Ngoc My in the list of international friendly tournaments in China.
aggressive playing style, speed, impressive finishing and running ability are the strengths that help the 1m77 tall striker gain the trust of the Thanh Hoa coaching staff. By the end of the 2024-2025 season, Ngoc My has played in 2/3 of the matches of the Thanh team. Every time given the opportunity to enter the field, this player shows confidence and progress in playing skills. It can be said that the time spent on loan in first division teams such as Phu Tho and Binh Phuoc has helped him grow up significantly. The appearance of Ngoc My promises to create active competition with Viktor Le, Thanh Nhan, Dinh Bac, Quoc Viet... on the U23 Vietnam attack.
Finally, Dinh Quang Kiet is an interesting unknown that coach Kim Sang-sik hopes to exploit potential in the coming time. At the age of 18, central defender Hoang Anh Gia Lai is nearly 1m95 tall and has the ability to compete in a big match. He can also fill in the position of his senior Ly Duc.
Not only improving in his strength position, some coaches also took advantage of Quang Kiet's height strengths to exploit the high ball situations at the end of the match. This could be something that Mr. Kim Sang-sik wants to exploit in the 2007 midfield in this training session.
U23 Vietnam will have more than 2 weeks of training in Ba Ria - Vung Tau before the Korean coach reduces the list to 23 - 25 players participating in the U23 Southeast Asian tournament. The upcoming training session will be the first step in the long-term personnel campaign that Mr. Kim wants to prepare for U22 Vietnam, towards the U23 Asian qualifiers in September and the 33rd SEA Games taking place at the end of the year.
