U.23 Vietnam plays Asian qualifiers on 'good land': Playing is winning

U.23 Vietnam will play 3 matches of the U.23 Asia qualifying round at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho), a place famous as the 'sacred land' of Vietnamese football.

U.23 Vietnam returns to Viet Tri Stadium

Vietnam U23 will compete in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers in September, with matches against Bangladesh U23, Singapore U23 and Yemen U23 in Group C.

U.23 Vietnam will open the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifying round with a match against U.23 Bangladesh at 7 p.m. on September 3. In the second match, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team will meet U.23 Singapore at 7 p.m. on September 6. In the final match, U.23 Vietnam will meet U.23 Yemen at 7 p.m. on September 9. The group winner will directly qualify for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals, while the runner-up must be in the best group to qualify.

U.23 Vietnam's U.23 Asian qualifying round schedule

PHOTO: VFF

In addition to the relatively "easy" group, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team also have home field advantage. All 6 matches in Group C of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers will take place at Viet Tri Stadium ( Phu Tho ). This is the "sacred land" of Vietnamese football, having witnessed the success of many levels of teams.

At Viet Tri Stadium, the Vietnamese team won all four matches at the AFF Cup 2024, including two group stage matches against Indonesia (1-0) and Myanmar (5-0), as well as the second leg of the semi-final against Singapore (3-1) and the first leg of the final against Thailand (2-1). Thanks to the victories at home, Mr. Kim's students have a favorable psychological momentum to step up to the Southeast Asian throne after 6 years of waiting.

Also in Viet Tri 3 years ago, U.23 Vietnam under coach Philippe Troussier also defeated U.23 Yemen (1-0), U.23 Guam Island (6-0) and drew U.23 Singapore (2-2) to win the top spot in the qualifying round, along with a direct ticket to the 2024 U.23 Asian Cup.

In the 2025 AFC U17 qualifiers, Vietnam U17 also overcame a difficult group with opponents Kyrgyzstan U17, Myanmar U17 and Yemen U17 with an undefeated record to win a ticket to the final round.

Or before that, the friendly matches at Viet Tri Stadium when coach Park Hang-seo was still in charge also ended with results ranging from a draw to a win for U.23 Vietnam.

With the chance to compete on the sacred "ancestral land", hopefully U.23 Vietnam will win a ticket to the 2026 U.23 Asia finals.

Since 2016, U.23 Vietnam has continuously won tickets to the final round. The team's best achievement was being runner-up in 2018, and reaching the quarter-finals twice (2022 and 2024).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-viet-nam-da-vong-loai-chau-a-tren-dat-lanh-ra-san-la-thang-185250820113115339.htm