U.20 Thailand and U.20 Indonesia: Powerless
When Buraphat ran down and scored a tricky shot past the Korean U.20 goalkeeper to open the score in the 20th minute, Thai fans probably dreamed of a miracle. If they had at least 1 point against Korean U.20, Thai U.20 would still have a chance to pass the group stage of the Asian U.20 Championship.
However, the young Thai players soon returned to the ground. U.20 Korea equalized after only 12 minutes, then put on suffocating pressure in the second half to score 3 more goals. U.20 Thailand played hard, but failed to take advantage of scoring opportunities. On the opposite side, the "young" Korean squad was too sharp.
U.20 Vietnam (red shirt) missed the ticket to the 2025 U.20 Asia final round
A 1-4 defeat pushed U.20 Thailand out of the U.20 Asian Championship. In the opening match, the Southeast Asian representative lost 0-3 to U.20 Japan in a completely overwhelming match.
As for U.20 Indonesia, the two heavy losses to U.20 Iran and defending champion U.20 Uzbekistan were not unexpected. Indonesian youth football has worked hard to build the U.20 generation of the past 2 years to prepare for the U.20 World Cup 2023 hosted at home. The "gem" of this generation is Marselino Ferdinan, a player born in 2004, but has established a position among the naturalized stars of the Indonesian team. However, the next generations of Indonesia such as U.20 and U.17 no longer receive commensurate investment in terms of competition opportunities and training time abroad.
The fall of U.20 Thailand and U.20 Indonesia has shown the gap in skill between Southeast Asian youth and the top teams in Asia. Coincidentally, all four opponents who defeated Thailand and Indonesia, including Japan, South Korea, Iran and Uzbekistan, are also from the four strongest football nations in Asia at the moment. Youth football always has the potential for surprises, but when the gap is too big, all efforts are like... a drop in the ocean.
Over the past 20 years, U.20 Vietnam is still the most 'lucky'
Southeast Asian representatives such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar continuously participated in the final and semi-finals of the U.20 Asian Cup from 1959 to 1994. However, since 1996, when the Asian football situation has reshaped, the "leading flags" of Southeast Asia no longer have a chance to fly.
In the past 20 years, only 2 Southeast Asian representatives have reached the semi-finals of the U.20 Asia, namely U.20 Myanmar (2014) and U.20 Vietnam (2016).
U.20 Vietnam is still the Southeast Asian team with the most impressive achievements in the Asian tournament in the past 20 years.
The U.20 teams of South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Australia have dominated, with occasional surprises like Qatar and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea winning the championship. Overall, the U.20 Asian Cup is still not a good place for Southeast Asian teams to place high hopes.
Two years ago, U.20 Vietnam also stopped at the group stage of U.20 Asia, but the performance of coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team was commendable. U.20 Vietnam defeated U.20 Australia (1-0) and U.20 Qatar (2-1), before losing to U.20 Iran (1-3) in the final round. Despite winning 6 points, Ho Van Cuong and his teammates were still eliminated due to a lower head-to-head goal difference compared to U.20 Australia and U.20 Iran.
U.20 Vietnam became the team eliminated in the group stage with the highest score in the U.20 Asian finals ever. A sad record, but also a recognition of the efforts of coach Hoang Anh Tuan's students.
Southeast Asian football will continue to hunt for opportunities in the 2025 AFC U-17 Championship finals, as Vietnam U-17, Indonesia U-17 and Thailand U-17 are all aiming to advance past the group stage to attend the 2025 U-17 World Cup.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u20-thai-lan-va-u20-indonesia-som-bi-loai-kho-vuot-thanh-tich-u20-viet-nam-185250218101748235.htm
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