SEA Games 33: U22 Vietnam encounters familiar rivals

22/10/2025 16:30:00 FieldFrenzy

After the group draw results for SEA Games 33, media outlets reported that U22 Vietnam will "face familiar opponents" Laos and Malaysia. The truth is that every year we encounter several "known opponents" in Southeast Asian football, which features many matches but generally lacks strong competitiveness.

Due to the regional football characteristics and the geographic grouping method used in each Asian tournament qualifying draw, on average, more than 60% of matches each year are played against these "familiar opponents."

This leads to several issues that are not beneficial for a football nation like Vietnam, which needs to develop. Many matches are effectively won before being played because the opponents are too weak, and it’s unlikely they will strengthen significantly in a short period. Therefore, sometimes even though the national or U23 teams play dozens of matches annually, only one or two are truly competitive and professionally challenging.

For example, in 2025, the national team only has three matches that can be called "worthy": two finals of the 2024 ASEAN Cup (January) against Thailand and the first leg of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers where they lost 0-4 to Malaysia. Out of a total of 10 matches, including friendlies, the quality does not allow for a solid evaluation of the team’s level.

Even the matches considered the "most competitive" are only against Southeast Asian opponents, so on what grounds can we assess Vietnam’s current standing in its progression to higher levels? In a sense, we may go through the entire year without knowing if the team has improved compared to 2024.

Vietnam’s national team (left) does not always have official matches against equally matched rivals like Thailand (right). Photo: Hoang Linh

Increasing the number of international matches annually is always a goal for football nations aspiring to grow, but the problem is that too many of these matches are against "familiar" Southeast Asian opponents. Some years, after meeting at the ASEAN Cup, the World Cup qualifiers draw pits the same teams against each other again…

This leads to the paradox where the Vietnam Football Federation must rely on relationships and reputation to arrange high-quality friendlies with West Asian and Central Asian teams, but ultimately these matches only serve the purpose of official games within the region.

It’s no coincidence that Thailand, Indonesia, and even Malaysia tend to reduce their focus on Southeast Asian tournaments, especially in the U23 category and below. Although they play many matches, the accumulation of experience and growth is minimal.

Successes in regional tournaments rarely establish significant value beyond titles. Thailand dominates Southeast Asian championships at all age levels, but when moving to continental competitions, they have never reached the finals of Asian youth tournaments, let alone the Asian Cup. In FIFA competitions, Southeast Asia remains on the sidelines.

Repeatedly facing "familiar opponents" has become uninteresting. Especially with the current naturalization of players, these matches sometimes fail to truly assess the actual strength if some "familiar" teams do not field their strongest lineups.

Because of this pattern of "running into familiar opponents," Indonesian football has adopted a risky strategy of maximizing the use of naturalized players, having spent three decades without winning any ASEAN Cup or SEA Games titles using only domestic players. This means that even playing more matches wouldn’t change much; it’s better to naturalize players to compete at a higher level.

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