Vòng loại Giải U23 châu Á 2026: Chờ ông Kim nâng cấp U23 Việt Nam

U23 Việt Nam - Ảnh 1. — Overseas Vietnamese rookie Thanh Trung is a name worth waiting for in U23 Vietnam - Photo: NINH BINH FC

Winning a ticket to the final round is not difficult for U23 Vietnam, but experts expect coach Kim Sang Sik and his team to upgrade their strength to think about further goals.

Focus on winning tickets to the finals

Vietnam U23 team is in Group C of the 2026 AFC U23 qualifiers and will meet Bangladesh (September 3), Singapore (September 6), and Yemen (September 9).

With home advantage and the highest FIFA ranking in the group, the U23 Vietnam team is expected to have no difficulty in winning an official ticket to the final round for the group winners. Even in the worst case, they can still win a ticket to the final round for one of the four second-placed teams with the best results in the 11 groups.

In preparation for the qualifying round, the U23 Vietnam team will gather for training from August 30 in Viet Tri ( Phu Tho ). Compared to the journey to win the U23 Southeast Asia 2025 championship in Indonesia at the end of July, the U23 Vietnam team promises to be even stronger with the addition of 3 new faces: goalkeeper Nguyen Tan, striker Thanh Nhan and overseas Vietnamese player Tran Thanh Trung (Chung Nguyen Do).

However, coach Kim Sang Sik and his team cannot be complacent as their opponents in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers are also keen to secure tickets to the finals. U23 Yemen - the most formidable opponent of U23 Vietnam - has gathered to prepare for the qualifiers since early July.

And they have undergone 2 training sessions domestically and abroad (training in UAE). U23 Yemen has had a series of friendly matches, but the results were not disclosed to protect professional confidentiality.

The most prominent of the Yemen U23 squad is the striker trio Abdulaziz Masnoum - Qassem Al Sharafi - Hamza Mahrous, who played for the national team in two matches against Bhutan and Lebanon in the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup in June.

Waiting for new overseas Vietnamese recruits

The Vietnam U23 team has delighted fans by winning the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship and winning the championship for the third consecutive time. However, coach Kim Sang Sik's team still revealed limitations that have made experts and fans unable to be completely assured.

U23 Vietnam is very strong in set pieces when scoring 5/8 goals. But it also shows the weakness of U23 Vietnam in taking advantage of opportunities to score from open play.

The playing style of U23 Vietnam is lacking in diversity and heavily dependent on aerial balls. Therefore, upgrading the playing style is what coach Kim Sang Sik needs to do in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers to win a ticket to the finals and possibly go further in the continental arena.

The presence of a very new factor, Vietnamese-American midfielder Tran Thanh Trung, is receiving great anticipation from both coach Kim Sang Sik and fans. The expertise of the player who played for Bulgaria U17 to U21, and is in the top 3 Best Young Players of Bulgaria in the 2024-2025 season, cannot be underestimated.

More importantly, Thanh Trung plays in a position that the Vietnam U23 team is lacking and was clearly revealed at the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship: central midfielder who controls the team's play.

Having only recently become familiar with Vietnamese football will be a big obstacle for Thanh Trung in his first time joining the Vietnam U23 team and getting used to coach Kim Sang Sik's tactics.

Therefore, this 20-year-old player needs to make double efforts to be able to stay and compete for a place in the main squad of U23 Vietnam. Because in the hands of the Korean coach, there are many talented midfielders such as Van Truong, Xuan Bac, Thai Son, Viktor Le, Cong Phuong...

If he can keep up the pace, Thanh Trung will not only help the U23 Vietnam team become stronger but can also be called up to the Vietnam team in the upcoming final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup.

This is because the current Vietnamese football team also lacks a player who can share the burden with Hoang Duc in the midfield in both blocking and launching attacks.

After the end of round 3 of V-League 2025 - 2026, the tournament will take a break for the Vietnam U23 team to compete in the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers. The tournament will return on September 13 with 2 early matches of round 6 between Hanoi Police - Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City Police - Nam Dinh . Round 4 will take place as usual from September 20.

ORIGINAL

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vong-loai-giai-u23-chau-a-2026-cho-ong-kim-nang-cap-u23-viet-nam-2025082910130351.htm