Thailand coach causes shock: Only afraid of U.23 Vietnam and Indonesia, ignoring Malaysia

The new coach of the U.23 Thailand team, Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul, said that there are only two opponents that he is most afraid of in the journey to win the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship taking place on July 15, which are U.23 Vietnam and host Indonesia, while ignoring the Malaysian team.

U.23 Vietnam has been preparing for 2 months

"U.23 Vietnam is the team with the best preparation for the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament. As far as I know, they have been focusing and practicing for the past 2 months. While Indonesia is the host team, they will certainly have many great advantages. These will be the main opponents of U.23 Thailand in this tournament," said coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul, who was recently appointed by the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) to replace coach Takayuki Nishigaya (Japan).

Coach Kim Sang-sik is currently focusing on the Vietnam U.23 team with important goals at the Southeast Asian U.23 tournament, the Asian U.23 qualifiers and the 33rd SEA Games at the end of the year.

Photo: Ngoc Linh

According to CNN Indonesia, coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul's statement could "offend" the U.23 Malaysia team because he ignored this opponent, while they had also prepared very well and had 2 training matches with all wins (PDRM Club 1-0 and Melaka United 4-1).

In the group stage of the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 tournament, U.23 Thailand will not meet U.23 Vietnam and Indonesia. These teams can only meet in the semi-finals.

Accordingly, U.23 Thailand is in Group C with Myanmar and Timor Leste. U.23 Vietnam is in Group B with the remaining 2 teams, Cambodia and Laos. Meanwhile, in Group A there are 4 teams including host Indonesia, U.23 Malaysia, Philippines and Brunei. The teams compete in a round robin to calculate points, the 3 group winners and 1 second-placed team with the best record will enter the semi-finals.

Current predictions show that U.23 Indonesia, U.23 Vietnam and U.23 Thailand will be the teams most likely to finish first in the three groups, while U.23 Malaysia is an unknown and could be the fourth team to reach the semi-finals, including competing for the top spot with the host team, the archipelago, and the second-place position with the best performance.

Coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul also commented: "U.23 Thailand is not well prepared for this year's tournament, compared to U.23 Vietnam and Indonesia. I have just been appointed to replace coach Takayuki Nishigaya, so I don't have much time.

However, I believe that the quality of young Thai players will solve this problem. Thai players have the same level and class as Vietnamese and Indonesian players. I will try to make the best use of their current strengths. I also believe that all Thai players currently playing in the U.23 team have the potential to develop."

Previously, U.23 Thailand, preparing for the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship, the U.23 Asian Championship qualifiers (September) and the 33rd SEA Games at the end of this year at home, suffered a total of 5 defeats. This series of poor results led to the recent dismissal of coach Takayuki Nishigaya and the hasty appointment of coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul as his replacement.

The 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 Championship hosted by Indonesia will be held in the two cities of Bekasi and Jakarta, taking place from July 15 to 29. Vietnam U.23 is currently the team that has won this tournament the most times (twice in 2022 and 2023). Meanwhile, Indonesia U.23 won in 2019 and Thailand U.23 also won once in 2005.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hlv-doi-thai-lan-gay-soc-chi-e-ngai-u23-viet-nam-va-indonesia-phot-lo-malaysia-185250711101644871.htm