At the end of the group stage, Vietnam and Indonesia were the two teams that won tickets to the quarterfinals. The remaining two teams bid farewell to the tournament early.
At the 2024 Asian U23 Championship, Indonesia takes advantage of its core force with many naturalized players with backgrounds in European football. But the island team’s chance of winning a ticket to attend the 2024 Paris Olympic men’s soccer event is very low, having to face South Korea in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, the force of U23 Vietnam is players who have trained and competed together at the national U19 level. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s team also finds it difficult to get through the narrow gap when their next opponent in the knockout round is one of the top teams in West Asia – a region that owns many players with good physique and physical strength. Ideal for fast, diverse attacking gameplay.
In the final match of Group C on April 22, experts were surprised when Thailand lost to the team that was considered weaker, Tajikistan, and lost the opportunity to advance deep into the tournament. Previously, coach Issara Sritaro’s team opened the door to the quarterfinals when they unexpectedly defeated Iraq on the opening day, finishing second in the group after 2 matches.
At the 2024 Asian U23 Championship, it will be difficult for Vietnam’s U23 team to repeat the feat of winning runner-up (Photo: NHAT DOAN)
Thailand participates in the 2024 Asian U23 Championship with a strong force, including many young talents competing at the highest level of the domestic tournament (Thai-League). However, their physical strength quickly decreased and they did not adapt to the high intensity of play, causing the Golden Temple team to often lose to their opponents in terms of ball control rate and number of shots in all 3 group stage matches.
Similarly, Malaysia, with a group of young players with little experience in international competition, no clear tactical plan, and a stumbling implementation of tactics, so they also soon stopped in the group stage of the 2024 U23 Asian Championship.
Taking place every two years, the U23 Asian Championship is a playground that brings together players from the next generation of the national team. Therefore, the results of this tournament also show the level and class of Asian national teams in the future.
In the Southeast Asia region, Vietnam is the team that has participated in the finals many times and has the best performance, winning runner-up in 2018. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia each reached the quarterfinals of this tournament.
