Coach Hoang Anh Tuan: "U23 Vietnam needs to stabilize the squad for the Asian tournament"

(Dan Tri) - Coach Hoang Anh Tuan said that the Vietnam U23 team has completed its mission in the qualifying round of the U23 Asian Cup. However, Mr. Tuan said that the final round will be completely different from the qualifying round.

The AFC U23 Championship Finals will take place from January 7 to January 25, 2026, with the participation of 16 teams including U23 Saudi Arabia (host), U23 Jordan, U23 Japan (B), U23 Vietnam, U23 Australia, U23 Kyrgyzstan, U23 Thailand, U23 Iraq, U23 Qatar, U23 Iran, U23 Korea, U23 Syria, U23 China, U23 Uzbekistan, U23 Lebanon and U23 UAE.

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan is also the most recent coach to lead the Vietnam U23 team to the final round of the U23 Asian Cup in 2024. Therefore, this coach understands the harshness of the continental tournament.

Mr. Tuan is also the one who understands many faces in the U23 Vietnam team that just qualified for the 2026 U23 Asia tournament, because Mr. Tuan has a long time working with these players in different youth teams.

Right after the Vietnam U23 team qualified for the 2026 U23 Asian Cup, coach Hoang Anh Tuan talked with Dan Tri reporter.

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan is the most recent person to lead the Vietnam U23 team at the AFC U23 Championship in 2024 (Photo: Do ​​Minh Quan).

Unstable squad

How do you evaluate the Vietnam U23 team in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers that just ended? Are we stronger or weaker than at the Southeast Asian U23 Championship more than a month ago?

- It is difficult to evaluate this, because we are talking about two different tournaments, of different nature, with different opponents. In addition, the goals of the U23 Vietnam team in these two tournaments are also not the same.

To comment on the current U23 Vietnam, I will divide my assessment into two different parts. First, in terms of achievements, we have completed the task of winning a ticket to the final round of the continental tournament.

In terms of playing style, the team still has some problems that need to be improved, especially in terms of the team's lack of stability in terms of squad. In some moments of the past matches, the team's playing style was not really convincing, even though the U23 Vietnam team has many players with rich international experience.

There is a remarkable detail, in each different match, U23 Vietnam has a different player scoring and becoming the hero of the whole team in each individual match. What are the positive and negative aspects of this, sir?

In each qualifying match, U23 Vietnam used a different lineup (Photo: Do ​​Minh Quan).

- On the positive side, the detail that U23 Vietnam has many different players scoring goals in different matches reflects that our force is very even, the quality of the players that U23 Vietnam possesses is very good.

On the negative side, as I said, we do not have a stable squad, so we have not found a stable striker. In each different match, U23 Vietnam has a different starting lineup, so it is very difficult for the strikers to have a stable scoring form.

In the final qualifying match against U23 Yemen, all three main strikers of U23 Vietnam came off the bench. Their time on the field was not enough for them to maintain stability in scoring. Suppose the main strikers were allowed to play for a longer period of time, with a higher number of minutes, their performance would be more stable.

Of course, that is just my personal feeling, from the perspective of an outside observer. The head coach is the one who knows the team's situation best, understands the performance of each individual at each specific time. Moreover, each coach has his own point of view, his own style, we need to absolutely respect them.

The finals will be much more difficult than the qualifying rounds.

In your opinion and experience, how will the AFC U23 Championship finals be different from the qualifying round?

- The opponents in the finals will be completely different from the opponents we just faced in the qualifying round, in a much stronger direction. When we reach the finals, we will be in a group with at least one team from the top seed group (possibly Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan), plus one team from the second seed group (possibly Iran, Australia, Iraq, Uzbekistan).

We have to consider the possibility that U23 Vietnam will be in a group with an East Asian team (Japan, South Korea, North Korea), a West Asian team (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, UAE) or a Central Asian team (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan), or maybe U23 Vietnam will be in the same group with all the teams from the above regions.

The strikers of U23 Vietnam have not had stable scoring form (Photo: Do ​​Minh Quan).

At first glance, we can see that these are all strong teams, able to turn every match of U23 Vietnam in the group stage into a final match. Because, if falling into such a group, just one loss, U23 Vietnam will immediately face the risk of being eliminated. Therefore, U23 Vietnam must prepare carefully for the final round.

With what has been shown, what does U23 Vietnam need to add, to hope to create a surprise at the U23 Asian Cup, taking place early next year?

- First, we need to have a stable squad, from there we aim to stabilize our performance. The advantage of U23 Vietnam at present is that we have a team of players who are even, promising, have a lot of international experience, and have a lot of professional experience.

Many players in the current U23 Vietnam generation have gone through two U23 Southeast Asian tournaments, some have even played in three regional U23 tournaments, meaning they have experience winning this tournament 2-3 times (U23 Vietnam won the U23 Southeast Asian championship 3 times in a row most recently, in 2022, 2023 and 2025).

The current U23 Vietnam team also has national players, such as Thai Son, Dinh Bac, Trung Kien, Ly Duc. At the same time, all of our players have experience playing in the V-League, so the U23 Vietnam squad is very solid.

U23 Vietnam will be stronger in the future

In terms of physical fitness, do we need to improve this further before participating in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship?

- Physical fitness is always necessary for players, especially when we have to participate in a big tournament like the Asian tournament. In this regard, I believe that the U23 Vietnam players will have better physical fitness in the coming time.

The final round will be more difficult than the qualifying round (Photo: Do ​​Minh Quan).

In the coming days, the V-League will gradually become hotter. At that time, the performance and physical strength of Vietnamese players will be better. In the recent U23 Asian qualifiers, the physical strength of Vietnamese U23 players was not at its best, because the new season has only started with 3 rounds.

Therefore, in the coming time, the players' physical strength will be different, will change in a more positive direction, before we participate in the final round of the U23 Asian Cup.

In terms of personnel, what players can U23 Vietnam add for the upcoming period, including the 2026 AFC U23 Championship?

- I have mentioned the faces in the 23-year-old age group that can supplement the Vietnam U23 team, perhaps there is no need to mention it again. I only give an example in the central midfielder position, I have not seen the appearance of Nguyen Duc Viet.

If comparing Duc Viet with the two central midfielders who just appeared in the starting lineup in the match against U23 Yemen on September 9, including Xuan Bac and Thai Son, Duc Viet still has a slight advantage.

Duc Viet is more experienced than Xuan Bac, he can also play better than Thai Son, based on what Thai Son showed in the recent match against U23 Yemen.

However, as I mentioned, each coach has his own philosophy, his own personnel plan, suitable for his tactical choices. Therefore, we must absolutely respect Head Coach Kim Sang Sik. What we mentioned is just a reference point of view, the final decision still belongs to the Head Coach!

Thank you for the conversation!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-hoang-anh-tuan-u23-viet-nam-can-on-dinh-doi-hinh-cho-giai-chau-a-20250910235920492.htm