2025 Southeast Asian Women's U16 Championship: Can U16 Vietnam break the curse against Thailand?

Having lost to Thailand in the semi-finals three times, the Vietnamese U16 women's team really wants to change history in the semi-finals of the 2025 Southeast Asian U16 Women's Championship taking place at 3:30 p.m. today (August 27) in Indonesia.

Will the Vietnam U16 women's team have the joy of victory? - Photo: VFF

Not only are they the defending champions, Thailand’s U16 women’s team also holds the record for being the team with the most championships, with three consecutive titles in 2017, 2018, and 2019 in the four times the tournament was held. Meanwhile, the Vietnam U16 women’s team finished third three times and lost to Thailand in the semi-finals in 2009, 2018, and 2019.

However, history can change in this encounter. Because in the friendly match in April in Hanoi , the Vietnam U17 women's team won Thailand 2-1.

This is also the generation of players from the two teams currently participating in the 2025 Southeast Asian U16 Women's Championship. The Vietnam U16 Women's team entered the semi-finals as the top team in Group B after two wins against Cambodia 5-0 and Myanmar 2-0.

Thailand only entered the semi-finals as the second-placed team with the best record after losing 1-2 to Australia and beating Singapore 7-0.

Under the guidance of coach Okiyama Masahiko, the Vietnam U16 women's team is playing more and more cohesively. Among them, the most outstanding player is Nguyen Thi Minh Anh - the player who scored a hat-trick in the victory over Cambodia. Meanwhile, the Thai U16 women's team is also formidable with Phatthamon Saengta - the player who scored 4 goals in the victory over Singapore.

Speaking before the match, coach Thidarat Wiwasukhu said: "We met each other in a friendly match in April. U16 Vietnam is a good team, so I think the match will be very attractive and fierce. We expect to get a good result in this match. I want to see the young players show their best talent and Thailand will be the winner in this match."

Meanwhile, coach Okiyama Masahiko also affirmed a clear goal for the U16 Vietnam team: "We have made efforts to get through the group stage to reach the semi-finals. And now we will fight our best in each match to aim for the championship."

The remaining semi-final is the confrontation between host Indonesia and Australia at 7:30 p.m.

NGUYEN KHOI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giai-u16-nu-dong-nam-a-2025-u16-viet-nam-co-pha-dop-truoc-thai-lan-20250827084059007.htm