'Prodigy' Tran Gia Bao will be added to the Vietnam U19 squad

The recently announced training roster for Vietnam U19 has drawn attention as young forward Tran Gia Bao was not included. However, according to the coaching staff's plan, the HAGL young star will be called up as an addition in the next training phase.

Tran Gia Bao was not called up in the first phase, but...

On the afternoon of March 13, coach Yutaka Ikeuchi announced the list of 31 players called up to Vietnam U19 to prepare for the 2026 U19 Southeast Asian Championship and the 2027 U20 Asian Cup qualifiers. This squad gathers many faces who have previously worn youth national team jerseys, such as Nguyen Duc Nhat, Le Minh Nhat, Bach Trong Duong, Nguyen Van Quan, Nguyen Thiên Phu, Nguyen Hoang Nam, and Dinh Xuan Khai. Additionally, the team includes some overseas Vietnamese players like Nguyen Ba Nhat Ka and forward Antonio Moric.

Tran Gia Bao's absence from the initial list surprised many fans. The forward born in 2008 is considered one of the most outstanding talents of this age group and even started playing in V-League at just 16 years old.

According to information from the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), after about the first week of training, the coaching staff will review the squad. It is expected that around 10 to 15 players will be cut, while the team will add approximately 10 other players not in the initial list.

A member of the Vietnam U19 coaching staff stated that Tran Gia Bao is definitely part of the team's plan and will join the camp in the second training week, scheduled from March 23 to 29. Along with Gia Bao, some other familiar players such as Quoc Khanh, Viet Anh, Duy Khang, Van Bach, Quang Anh, Van Khanh, and Hong Phong will also join the team at this stage.

According to the coaching staff, not calling up the prominent players immediately aims to give new talents a chance to test themselves in the first training week, thereby evaluating and filtering the squad before finalizing the list.

Tran Gia Bao is currently one of the rare young players regularly competing at the highest level of Vietnamese football. In the 2025/26 season, this 1.80m tall forward has played 14 out of 16 rounds in V-League, mainly from the bench but still managed to score 2 goals. Most recently, Gia Bao scored in the 3-3 draw between HAGL and Da Nang in round 16.

Not only impressing at club level, Gia Bao has also made a mark at international youth tournaments. At the 2025 U17 Asian Championship finals, he scored against Japan U17, attracting attention from experts.

Notably, in October 2025, the renowned British newspaper The Guardian included Tran Gia Bao in the "Next Generation 2025" list, featuring 60 of the world football's most promising young talents. In this list, the HAGL forward is the sole representative from Southeast Asia and is described as a "bright gem" for Vietnamese football in the future.