On the afternoon of November 11, the current head coach of Vietnam U22 - Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh attended a press conference before the 2025 CFA Team China - Panda Cup international football tournament, taking place in Chengdu, Sichuan Province (China).
At the beginning of the press conference, coach Dinh Hong Vinh, on behalf of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and U22 Vietnam, thanked the Chinese Football Association (CFA) for giving a thoughtful and respectful welcome to the whole team right after going to China to participate in the tournament.
Evaluating the professional quality of the Panda Cup 2025, coach Dinh Hong Vinh affirmed that this is a highly competitive international tournament, gathering the top young football teams in the continent. In addition to U22 Vietnam and host U22 China, the two guest teams U22 Uzbekistan and U22 Korea are also familiar opponents when they participated in the international friendly tournament organized by the CFA in March 2025.
In that tournament, U22 Vietnam drew 1-1 with U22 Korea, drew 0-0 with U22 Uzbekistan and drew 1-1 with U22 China. Those matches have really helped our young players mature a lot, contributing to creating a foundation for U22 Vietnam to win the 2025 U23 Southeast Asian Championship, and at the same time win all the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers, coach Dinh Hong Vinh shared.
Coach Dinh Hong Vinh also hopes that continuing to face strong opponents at the CFA Team China - Panda Cup 2025 will bring an important stepping stone to help the U22 Vietnam team consolidate their strength and perfect the playing style, before entering the two major upcoming goals, the 33rd SEA Games and the 2026 U23 Asian Cup finals.
In addition, coach Dinh Hong Vinh also frankly acknowledged the difficulties in preparing for this tournament when many players have to compete in the V.League 2025-2026, so they cannot gather early.
Once this afternoon, we have all the strength as the six players have just fulfilled their obligations to their home clubs. However, the team has been fully prepared through many training sessions since the end of 2024, so this is not a major obstacle.
The whole team will try their best to compete well, achieve the highest professional efficiency, thereby creating a sprint for the 33rd SEA Games, said coach Dinh Hong Vinh.
According to the plan, this afternoon (November 11), U22 Vietnam will enter the first training session in Tu Xuyen. Previously, right after stabilizing their accommodation, the coaching staff only organized core relaxation exercises in the hotel grounds to help the players recover their physical condition after a long journey.
