With an experienced squad heading to the 2026 Asian Games in Japan, Vietnam U23 have reason to target the quarterfinals and perhaps more. But the tournament is also a major test for players hoping to break into the senior national team.

Quarterfinals well within reach

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has set Vietnam U23 a target of reaching the quarterfinals at the 2026 Asian Games, a goal that appears well within the team’s capabilities given the squad available to coach Dinh Hong Vinh.

Of the 23 players selected, 16 took part in the team’s training camp in July. That time together has provided a degree of stability, both in how the team operates and in the understanding between players in different positions.

The seven players who were not part of the most recent camp, including Ly Duc, Quang Kiet, Pham Minh Phuc, Le Phat and Ngoc My, are hardly unfamiliar faces either.

Most of Vietnam’s 23-player Asian Games squad have already spent one or two seasons playing in the V.League, in addition to gaining experience at youth international level, most recently at the AFC U23 Asian Cup.

That makes Vietnam one of the more experienced squads heading into the Asian Games.

A group featuring Uzbekistan, Kuwait and the Philippines will certainly not be straightforward. Uzbekistan represent the biggest threat, but the race for the two quarterfinal places remains open.

If Dinh Hong Vinh’s players make the most of their games against Kuwait and the Philippines, Vietnam have every chance of securing a place in the last eight.

They could even set their sights higher and attempt to emulate previous generations by reaching the semifinals - or perhaps competing for a medal.

But the quarterfinals are not the ultimate goal

How far Vietnam U23 can actually go at the 2026 Asian Games remains to be seen.

What is clear, however, is that Asia’s largest multi-sport event represents another major test for a generation of Vietnamese players who won bronze at the AFC U23 Asian Cup earlier this year.

That also helps explain why the VFF and senior national team coach Kim Sang Sik changed their original plan of sending an U21 side and opted instead for a squad closer to Vietnam’s strongest available U23 lineup.

The decision has implications extending well beyond one tournament.

More specifically, Kim is already likely to be looking ahead to the future of Vietnam’s senior national team after the 2027 Asian Cup. The current generation of U23 players will naturally form part of those calculations.

To earn their opportunities, however, the players must put themselves firmly on the South Korean coach’s radar with strong performances against quality opposition at the Asian Games.

The tournament is, of course, only one of several tests facing this generation. Their regular performances in the V.League and Vietnam’s First Division, whose new seasons have recently begun, will matter just as much.

The Asian Games will not provide an automatic ticket into the senior Vietnam team.

But it offers these young players an important opportunity to demonstrate their ability to Kim and to their club coaches. Only by gradually establishing themselves as regular starters in the V.League will the door to the senior national team truly begin to open.

Duy Nguyen