U19 Vietnam has been gathering for nearly a month at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center to prepare for the 2026 Southeast Asian U19 Championship and further for the 2027 AFC U20 Championship qualifiers. Although not having the full force as desired due to the absence of some players for objective reasons, the Japanese strategist still highly appreciates the current squad quality.
It is true that some factors that I want cannot be included for objective reasons. However, U19 Vietnam still has many other quality players," coach Yutaka Ikeuchi shared.
According to the Japanese coach, the coaching staff focuses on improving expertise, perfecting tactical operation capabilities and helping players adapt to the football philosophy that the team is building. He assessed that the players have made clear progress in approaching the tactical requirements as well as the team's playing style.
Assessing the 10-day training trip in Japan, coach Yutaka Ikeuchi said that this is an important stage in the preparation process. U19 Vietnam is given conditions to compete with many high-level opponents, in which the match with team B of Shimizu S-Pulse club is noteworthy. These matches help young players accumulate more experience, improve their bravery and adaptability to opponents with good physical and technical foundations.
Faced with the pressure of achievements when Vietnamese football continuously reaps positive results at all national team levels, coach Yutaka Ikeuchi believes that this is a motivation for the whole team to try harder.
For me, coaching must go hand in hand with pressure. In the context of Vietnamese football developing strongly, I always want to be able to contribute to training and bring achievements to this U19 Vietnam generation," coach Yutaka Ikeuchi expressed.
Commenting on the opponents at the tournament, he assessed that host U19 Indonesia will be the biggest challenge in the group stage as they have many players who have participated in the U17 World Cup. However, U19 Vietnam's goal is still to go as deep as possible and compete for a high ranking in the tournament.
“U19 Indonesia is definitely a very strong opponent. But our goal is still to try to go as deep as possible and achieve the highest ranking at the tournament,” coach Yutaka Ikeuchi affirmed.
According to the plan, U19 Vietnam will depart for Indonesia on May 28. At the 2026 U19 Southeast Asian Championship, the team is in Group A with host U19 Indonesia, U19 Myanmar and U19 Timor-Leste. The tournament takes place from June 1 to 14, considered an important warm-up step towards the 2027 AFC U20 Championship qualifiers.
