Thai Fans: 'Vietnam is heading to the World Cup, while we are still stuck in the local pond'

Thai fans have unanimously shared their opinions regarding the power of Vietnam's football within Southeast Asia.

Recently, the fanpage Buriram Troll v2 which focuses on Thai football, posted a controversial article about Vietnamese football.

Specifically, this page highlighted the success of Vietnam's youth national teams in top competitions, most recently at the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, but raised doubts about whether this performance can be sustained at the senior national team level to reach the "standards of major football nations." Additionally, Buriram Troll v2 also shared an image of naturalized striker Nguyễn Xuân Son, implying that Vietnam's national team strength depends heavily on naturalized players.

The exact statement was: "This is a matter that makes many people think. Numerous fans have expressed concerns that although Vietnam’s youth football is clearly improving, when these players mature and compete at higher levels, they still lack the capability to reach the level of major football countries like Brazil."

In the comments section, many Thai fans showed dissatisfaction with the above viewpoint. Most opinions agreed that Vietnam has made progress both in training and in being open to recruiting quality foreign-born players to achieve big goals, one of which is the World Cup.

One person said: "Naturalization is not just a temporary fix, but can be seen as the beginning of a long-term strategy aimed at competitive success and establishing real standards for the future. Only those afraid of progress fear the process of self-improvement."

Another commented: "Vietnam will reach the World Cup before we do."

A third person reacted: "Vietnam is about to go to the World Cup, while we are still unable to step beyond the Asian region."

A fourth fan asserted: "We have to admit that Vietnam excels in almost every aspect. They have the advantage in human resources, while we are still a developing country. Just looking back over the past 40 years shows clearly that they went through war and then developed rapidly. Today, sports are heavily focused on and invested in across their villages and towns, far surpassing us."

Another declared: "Vietnam is on the right path, starting from developing football at the youth level."

In the past two years, Vietnamese football has made significant progress within Southeast Asia. This change is most evident through the professional and proactive training direction of the Vietnam Football Federation, focusing on building a player base from a very young age, thereby creating a solid foundation for development and breakthroughs as players advance to higher levels.

Not far back, at the 2025 AFC U17 Championship, Vietnam’s U17 team under coach Cristiano Roland competed evenly with top regional teams like Australia, Japan, and UAE, despite the unfortunate group stage exit.

The effectiveness of youth training is clearly shown through the impressive achievements of Vietnam’s U23 team over the past year, notably winning consecutive titles at the 2025 U23 Southeast Asian Championship and the 33rd SEA Games. Building on this, coach Kim Sang Sik is gradually forming a stable and deep squad for the current U23 team. This success is evident as the U23 Vietnam team performed convincingly, earning a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship with a perfect record of three wins in the group stage.

At the same time, Vietnam has also shown more flexibility and openness in its naturalization strategy. Following the positive impact of Nguyễn Xuân Son, the national team is gradually adding other promising players expected to make a difference, including cases like Đỗ Hoàng Hên (Hendrio) and Đỗ Phi Long (Gustavo) in the near future.

These "signings" are expected to help Vietnam’s national team get closer to the goal of reaching Asian football standards, and most importantly, the dream of appearing on the prestigious World Cup stage.