The Panda Cup 2025 is taking place in Chengdu, China, with the participation of four teams: host U22 China, U22 South Korea, U22 Uzbekistan, and U22 Vietnam.
Coach Dinh Hong Vinh at Panda Cup 2025 (Photo: VFF).
For this tournament, since head coach Kim Sang Sik is currently on duty with the Vietnamese national team in Laos, Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh is serving as the interim coach for U22 Vietnam.
Ahead of the match between U22 Vietnam and U22 South Korea at 2:30 PM on November 18, Coach Dinh Hong Vinh stated: “U22 South Korea is a very strong team. Their players have good speed and a modern style of play. Additionally, Korean players always have a habit of moving across the entire field.”
“When playing U22 South Korea, we must play in an organized manner, maintaining our team formation. I will re-analyze the match against U22 Uzbekistan and assess the players’ physical condition before making appropriate adjustments for the upcoming match against U22 South Korea.”
U22 Vietnam received praise despite losing to U22 Uzbekistan yesterday afternoon (Photo: VFF).
“Furthermore, U22 Vietnam players need to improve in their final decisions. We also won’t forget the task of providing opportunities for players who have had less playing time to feature in the next match, before the entire team makes a comprehensive assessment of the squad,” interim coach Dinh Hong Vinh added.
Currently, U22 Vietnam has not yet utilized two very young players: center-back Dinh Quang Kiet and goalkeeper Nguyen Tan. Both players possess excellent physiques, rarely seen among Vietnamese players, both standing at 1.95m tall. They may be used at an opportune moment in the match against U22 South Korea.
Notably, center-back Dinh Quang Kiet is well-suited to counter the power-based playstyle of the Korean players, who often use aerial balls and long passes. If necessary, Dinh Quang Kiet could even be pushed up to play as a striker, leveraging his height to act as a target man for his teammates in aerial duels.
