This marks the third time in the last four editions that Vietnam has reached the SEA Games men's football final. In the 2019 Games in the Philippines and the 2022 Games at home, the team claimed championships by defeating Indonesia 3-0 and Thailand 1-0, respectively. Historically, the two teams have met five times in SEA Games finals. Thailand emerged victorious in four of those matches: in 1995 (4-0), 1999 (2-0), 2003 (2-1, after extra time), and 2005 (3-0). Vietnam's sole victory came in 2022, a 1-0 win secured by a late header from Nham Manh Dung.

Heading into tonight's men's football final, Vietnam has only one SEA Games victory over Thailand but remains undefeated in the last nine matches across all competitions at the U23 level.

Vietnam began 2025 by winning the ASEAN Cup, followed by the U23 Southeast Asian Championship mid-year. The team now stands on the brink of securing the SEA Games 33 gold medal. This means that within a single year, coach Kim Sang-sik, goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien, and midfielder Khuat Van Khang could potentially achieve three major titles in Southeast Asian men's football.

This is the second time this year that Kim Sang-sik has led Vietnamese national teams in a championship clash against Thailand at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. Earlier, the national team defeated the hosts 3-2 in the second leg of the final, winning 5-3 on aggregate to clinch the ASEAN Cup 2024 title.

Thailand has not won a SEA Games men's football gold medal since 2017. Since then, they have reached the final twice, losing to Vietnam 0-1 in 2022 and to Indonesia 3-5 after extra time in 2023. The task for coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul's team is more challenging as both the women's national team and women's futsal team failed to reach their respective finals, disrupting the plan to secure four gold medals at this edition.

Vy Anh