Vietnam U23 at Asiad 2026: From Sixteen Familiar Names to the National Team Door

Sixteen out of twenty-three: a number that stands behind those afternoons I sat in my usual seat in the stands of a training ground south of Hanoi, my notebook open at the middle page. On it was the list of 23 Vietnam U23 players for Asiad 2026 that I had copied out by hand the previous morning. Not to check, but to remember. After more than fifty years in this trade, I have learned that a writer's memory must be anchored to paper, or it will drift with the emotion of the match just watched. This habit goes back to 2026, when I was a reporter following Daewoo Royals in Busan. Back then I recorded every misplaced pass, every dead-ball minute, and I realised something simple: without data, any take on football is just a story. Sixteen of those twenty-three names had appeared in the July training camp. I spent two days re-checking this information through two independent sources, as I do with every figure I quote. Not out of doubt, but out of principle. News can wait; the truth never can. The seven other faces compared with the most recent camp - Ly Duc, Quang Kiet, Pham Minh Phuc, Le Phat, Ngoc My and a few others - are not new players either. They have played in the V-League, worn youth-team shirts, been through the AFC U23 Championship earlier this year. If you only look at the number sixteen, you may think this is a major overhaul. But when you look at the full list, I see something else: continuity, not revolution. I copied out each line and read it carefully. Most of the 23 have one or two seasons of V-League football. That is an important fact, because it shows these players are past the apprenticeship stage. They have collided with genuinely competitive matches, where three points are counted straight and a single mistake can cost a starting place. That experience cannot be replaced by any training session. In an old notebook, I keep an unwritten rule I set myself after 2026, when Busan Daewoo Royals faced relegation. Back then I spent three days verifying a rumour of internal unrest before the play-off. The result: the rumour came from nothing more than an ordinary tense training session. The team won 2-0 and stayed up. Since then I never file a story that has not passed two independent sources. Applied to the Vietnam U23 story today, I do not read the list of 23 as a press release. I read it as a signal, and I check that signal against context. What is that context? The VFF has set a quarter-final target for Asiad 2026, and in my view that is a milestone within reach of Vietnam U23 given the current squad. But possibility and result are two different things. This is a distinction I always try to keep clear in my analysis. A strong team can lose to a corner kick, a linesman, or one player losing focus in the 89th minute. The ball does not lie, but the writer can - and I do not want to be among them. Vietnam U23 will share a group with Uzbekistan, Kuwait and the Philippines. I have watched Kuwait and the Philippines in recent qualifiers, and my read comes from footage rather than impression: both defend in an organised way but lack the ability to turn chances into goals. That is the kind of opponent a balanced side like Vietnam U23 needs. Uzbekistan is a different story. They are the most dangerous opponent in the group, and I will return to them later. What matters first is this: the race for the top two places is open. If Vietnam U23 exploit the games against Kuwait and the Philippines, coach Dinh Hong Vinh's men can certainly take a quarter-final ticket. I have a habit when analysing squads. I do not just count matches; I count minutes actually on the pitch. A player who sits on the bench all season in the V-League cannot be considered to have top-level experience, even if the paperwork says he played all season. Numbers tell part of the story; the rest is in mud-stained boots. So when I look at Vietnam U23's 23-man Asiad squad, I want to add this: do not only look at the number. Look at the position they play, the minutes they are given, and the quality of opponents they face each weekend at club level. Those are the things that decide whether a player can adjust to Asiad's density and intensity. Asiad is not anybody's private tournament, but it gives nobody time to adjust. The most interesting thing about this camp, in my view, is the change of plan by the VFF and coach Kim Sang Sik: from a U21 side to an almost strongest squad. That decision has meaning beyond one tournament. I have watched coaching staffs choose a modest option and regret it mid-way. At 67, I have been through enough cycles to see that most serious mistakes in football come from underestimating the opponent. But there is another kind of mistake - underestimating yourself. The switch from U21 to the strongest squad shows the staff recognised the value of bringing your best to a continental stage. But this is where I want readers to pause. The quarter-final is not the finish line. It is a milestone. And every milestone has two sides: it confirms how far you have come, and it shows how far you have not. The VFF has set a quarter-final target, but for a long-time observer like me, the quarter-final is a necessary condition, not a sufficient one. How far Vietnam U23 go at Asiad 2026 remains for reality to answer. But one thing is clear: the biggest multi-sport event in Asia is being used by coach Kim Sang Sik as another test for the U23 generation that won bronze at the AFC U23 Championship earlier this year. That is also why the VFF and Kim changed the plan, with meaning beyond a single tournament. Concretely: Kim Sang Sik certainly has calculations for the future of the Vietnam national team after the 2027 Asian Cup. Of course, the current Vietnam U23 players are in that plan. But being in the plan and becoming part of the plan are two different things. Between them lie hundreds of hours of training, dozens of matches, and a few moments of self-proof that not everyone gets to seize. This is the part I want to treat most carefully, because it is often skipped in analysis of Vietnam U23: the role of the V-League and the First Division, whose new season has just kicked off. I read Asiad coverage online, and I notice most readers focus on the squad list, the group draw and the opponents. Those matter, but they are only the outer layer. The inner layer is each player's performance at club level. A U23 player who does well at Asiad but sits on the bench all season in the V-League will not get many national-team chances. A U23 player who is average at Asiad but a club mainstay may be called up. This is logic I have verified across cycles in both Vietnam and Korea. Asiad is not a ticket straight to the national team. It is a key. But a key only opens the door when the hand holding it already knows the lock. Let me be clearer. The current Vietnam U23 players are in a special phase of Vietnamese football. This generation is highly expected, but also under heavy pressure. They must prove themselves to Kim Sang Sik, to their club coaches, and most importantly - to themselves. The third pressure is the hardest to overcome, and the least discussed in the news. I once followed a goalkeeper in Busan who was known for keeping his own personal statistics after every match. He held the starting spot for fourteen seasons. Asked his secret, he gave an answer I still remember: "I do not play to prove someone wrong. I play to prove myself right." Vietnam U23 players today are the same. Asiad is a chance to prove themselves right. I want to explore an angle that I think current analyses miss: how many Vietnam U23 players can play two matches in four days at Asiad? This is a practical question, not a rhetorical one. Asiad has a dense schedule, especially for teams going deep. Some Vietnam U23 players have that density experience from the AFC U23 Championship, but most do not. Some are in a physical build-up phase in the V-League, but Vietnamese football has a trait I have noticed over years of watching: the early season tends to produce more injuries than mid-season. Bodies are not yet used to the intensity, pitches are not yet fully renovated, and the opening schedule is heavy. So the story at Asiad is not only tactical. It is a story of physical management. And physical management is the medical department's job, not the head coach's. This is a point I want readers to remember. When you follow a team, do not only look at the players on the pitch. Look at the players not on the pitch. They are what the team is trying to protect. There is a story I remember. In 2026, in my first match on the ground, a Daewoo Royals player missed a penalty in the 88th minute. The match ended 1-1. After the whistle I went down to take notes. He stood alone in the corner, boots covered in mud. I approached him. He said something I have used in many pieces since: "The number did not miss. I missed." What does that have to do with Vietnam U23 at Asiad 2026? It matters because, when analysing, I always have to remind myself that behind every number is a person. I do not write until I have heard their story. That is why I spend time watching V-League footage of this generation instead of only reading statistical reports. Because a report tells me a player has 85% pass accuracy. It does not tell me that player's choice in the 90th minute, when his team is 0-1 down. The 90th-minute choice is what I care about. That is what decides Asiad matches, not pass accuracy. Now to what I consider the most important part. There is a counter-intuitive angle I want readers to consider: Vietnam U23 being rated among the most experienced squads at Asiad could be an advantage, but it could also be a trap. First, the advantage. Youth and V-League experience helps players understand each other faster, especially after six months together. Sixteen of twenty-three came through the July camp - a relatively high level of stability for a youth team in the region. The coach can spend less time introducing the system and more time fine-tuning details. But the trap is here. When a team is rated above its opponent, psychological pressure often shifts from light to heavy. Players start playing not to lose, instead of playing to win. And in football, playing not to lose can make a stronger team lose to a weaker one on every metric. I saw this at Busan in 2026. We were stronger than Ilhwa Chunma in the relegation play-off. But we struggled to win 2-0, because we played with more fear of losing than desire to win. Luckily the goal came early, and afterwards we played more freely. The same could happen to Vietnam U23 at Asiad 2026. If the red-shirted team enters with a "must win" mindset, they may tighten at decisive moments. If they enter with a "must earn" mindset, they will play better. It is a small difference in language but a large one in result. And it usually lies with the mental coach, not the head coach. Another counter-intuitive angle: sharing a group with Uzbekistan is a blessing, not a disadvantage. When assessing groups, most analysts look at opponent rankings and conclude whether it is hard or easy. But I look at something else: does this group help Vietnam U23 prepare for the knockout stage? The answer is yes. Facing Uzbekistan in the group forces Vietnam U23 to play at high intensity from the start, to focus fully, to be clear in tactics. If the team survives the group, they enter the knockout with better mental and tactical preparation than if they had only faced weak opponents. In football, no group is easy. There are only groups you have not fully understood. Sharing a group with Uzbekistan gives me a chance to watch Vietnam U23 play one of the best opponents in Asian youth football. It is a chance to judge them more strictly, and a chance for them to prove themselves at the top level. I will end with a thought I have held throughout this piece. In forty years watching Vietnamese and Korean football, I have noticed one thing: the gap between a good team and a successful team is not talent. It is patience. A successful team is one patient enough to go to the end of the process, instead of abandoning it under outside pressure. Vietnam U23 currently have a rare chance. They have a generation with enough experience, a coach with enough vision, and a staff ambitious enough to gamble on their strongest squad at Asiad. But a chance does not turn itself into a result. A chance only turns into a result when someone accepts long-term work on small things. From desk to pitch is a long journey; every step requires believing in yourself. And for Vietnam U23, believing in yourself does not mean believing in victory. Believing in yourself means believing in the process. If they can do that, the quarter-final will not be the finish line. If they cannot, the quarter-final will not be a failure either. It is just a milestone on a longer journey. I will follow Asiad 2026 from Busan, on screen, as I always do. But I will not write until I have watched the footage at least twice. That is how I keep my pieces from drifting with emotion. And that is how I respect the people playing on the pitch.