Foreign journalists believe Vietnamese youth football has surpassed Thailand.

Scott McIntyre, an Australian journalist, highly praised the development of Vietnamese youth football, even suggesting that we have surpassed our rival Thailand.

At the M-150 Cup 2017 international friendly tournament held in Buriram (Thailand), the two U23 teams from Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Thailand, both had impressive starts.

For U23 Vietnam, coach Park Hang-seo's team defeated U23 Myanmar with a resounding 4-0 victory to temporarily take the top spot in Group B, thanks to a brace from Quang Hai and two goals from Van Long and Cong Phuong.

Just a few hours later in Group A, the Thailand U23 team played their opening match against Japan U23. After a goalless first half, the home team broke the deadlock in the 49th minute thanks to a goal from Saringkan. Although Japan U23 equalized later through captain Yuta Kamiya, in the 63rd minute, Chaiyawat Buran scored a superb goal to seal a 2-1 victory for his team.

Journalist Scott McIntyre praised the progress of Vietnamese youth football.

He believes that Vietnam has a slight advantage over Thailand in youth development.

Both teams had a good start in the 2017 M-150 Cup. More broadly, youth football in Vietnam and Thailand has made significant progress over the past five years.

Comparing the development of the two football nations, Scott McIntyre, an Australian journalist writing for Fox Sports Asia, assessed: "In my opinion, Vietnamese youth football is ahead of Thailand. They have midfielders with good tactical awareness. If they use the right players and follow the right path, Vietnam has the potential to win the Asian Championship within the next 15 years. And within 20 years, they could even reach the World Cup."

According to Bongdaplus