10 years, an earthquake
U23 Vietnam can completely "share the tray" with Saudi Arabia, Japan, Iraq, South Korea or Uzbekistan if the final in Changzhou (China) in 2018 takes place in a more perfect way. That is a tournament that Quang Hai and his teammates have made the whole of Asia amazed, because a Southeast Asian representative who just failed miserably at the SEA Games a few months ago, can continuously defeat strong teams at the continental level.
The victory over U23 Australia, 2 times overcoming U23 Iraq and U23 Qatar after brave penalty shootouts, helped U23 Vietnam reach the final impressively. Under the snowstorm in Changzhou, coach Park Hang-seo's team created an emotional match against U23 Uzbekistan. Quang Hai's world-class free kick like "drawing a rainbow in the snow" became an image representing the courage, energy, and determination of U23 Vietnam at that year's tournament.
The runner-up position at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship is the most impressive achievement that U23 Vietnam has achieved in 10 years with 6 consecutive appearances at the tournament. Also thanks to this feat, U23 Vietnam only lost to champions such as: Saudi Arabia, Japan, Iraq, South Korea or Uzbekistan when considering the imprint throughout the history of the continental youth tournament.
In the remaining 5 participations, "Golden Star Warriors" also reached the quarterfinals twice in 2022 and 2024. More prominently, the coaches who won this result with U23 Vietnam did not have much time to accompany the team before that.
Mr. Gong Oh-kyun actually only coached Team B of U23 Vietnam in 2022, in the context of a series of key players gathering with coach Park Hang-seo to conquer the SEA Games Gold Medal at home. But even so, the Korean strategist still brought a beautiful and convincing playing style. In the group stage, U23 Vietnam drew with Thailand (2-2) and South Korea (1-1), defeating Malaysia (2-0) to enter the round of 8 strongest teams. In the quarter-finals, U23 Vietnam only lost to U23 Saudi Arabia (0-2) - the team that won the championship.
2 years later, coach Hoang Anh Tuan became a "firefighting" option for U23 Vietnam in the context of Mr. Philippe Troussier leaving the team due to poor performance. However, the strategist who helped U20 Vietnam participate in the 2017 U20 World Cup still performed well the tasks assigned by the Vietnam Football Federation.
Van Truong and his teammates had the most impressive start in history when they won both the first 2 rounds against U23 Kuwait (3-1) and U23 Malaysia (2-0). Although losing 0-3 to U23 Uzbekistan in the last round, winning 6 points after the group stage was enough to help U23 Vietnam continue to participate in the quarterfinals. In this round, coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team only narrowly lost 0-1 to U23 Iraq - the team that won third place overall.
Need to avoid the mistake
The remaining two appearances in the AFC U23 Championship finals witnessed U23 Vietnam stopping from the group stage. In 2016, in their first appearance, coach Toshiya Miura's team lacked combat experience at the continental tournament. The generation of potential players such as: Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, Xuan Truong... lost to Jordan (1-3), Australia (0-2) and UAE (2-3), thereby saying goodbye to the tournament early.
Anyway, that is the starting point for a commendable journey of U23 Vietnam in the following tournaments. Among them, the U23 Asian Championship runner-up comes from this generation of players 2 years later.
U23 Vietnam also lost momentum once in the group stage and that is also a mistake that U23 Vietnam needs to pay special attention to. In 2020, U23 Vietnam participated in the tournament when they just won the historic SEA Games Gold Medal (2019).
The Quang Hai and Tien Dung generation continued to be led by Mr. Park Hang-seo. However, success did not continue with Mr. Park. The calculated defensive style could help U23 Vietnam draw U23 UAE and U23 Jordan 0-0 in the first 2 rounds. But the team could not create a surprise against U23 North Korea in the final match, thereby finishing the group stage at the bottom of the table.
Experts point out that due to focusing too much effort on SEA Games 30 held in the Philippines 1 month earlier, Quang Hai and his teammates did not reach their peak performance when competing in the continental arena. The surprise of U23 Vietnam - which is a plus point in 2018 - did not repeat itself, when the teams had prepared their playing style and carefully analyzed each advantage and disadvantage in U23 Vietnam's tactics.
Entering the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals, U23 Vietnam brings many hopes. This year's journey will begin with a match against U23 Jordan at 6:30 PM on January 6th - a familiar opponent but always full of challenges.
A positive result in the opening match not only helps coach Kim Sang-sik's team create an advantage in points, but also creates psychological momentum for the road ahead. More importantly, U23 Vietnam is expected to show bravery, maturity and aspiration to reach further.
