Vietnam team enters the quarterfinals of the 2024 Asian U23 Championship: ‘Showers’ after ‘drought’

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s young team has helped fans rediscover the feeling of celebrating victory after the group stage of the 2024 Asian U23 Championship. However, besides the joy, there are still “frowns” when the U23 Vietnam still has many shortcomings that need to be improved if it wants to advance in this year’s tournament…

Anxiety after victories

The U23 Vietnam team closed the group stage of the 2024 U23 Asian Finals with many positive statistics: “Golden Dragon Army” won their first opening match in the continental U23 arena (winning 3-1 against U23 Kuwait); for the first time, he won a ticket to the quarter-finals after only two matches (after two victories against U23 Kuwait and U23 Malaysia); or achieve a record score in the group stage (6 points) at an U23 Asian Finals…

The series of successful matches in the group stage of U23 Vietnam recognized the commendable efforts of coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team in the context of the country’s football having just gone through a series of “dry” periods of trust with the former coach. coach Philippe Troussier.

However, besides the mental factor, there are still “spots” in the profession that need the Khanh Hoa-born strategist and the coaching staff of the U23 Vietnam Team to find a solution to help the young players have success. Prepare best for the quarterfinal match with opponent U23 Iraq on April 27.

Through 3 group stage matches, U23 Vietnam is one of the 5 highest scoring teams with 5 goals, equal to the achievement of U23 Indonesia and only behind U23 Iraq (6 goals), U23 Saudi Arabia and U23 Uzbekistan (with 10 tables).

However, going deeper into the goals, most of U23 Vietnam’s goals came from the opponents’ own mistakes rather than from the pressure of the strikers (2 goals from mistakes of Kuwait U23 goalkeeper and 2 goals from Winning comes from fixed situations).

Ineffective in attacking situations, coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s team also makes fans worried with the high frequency of fouls: U23 Vietnam is in the top 5 teams with the most fouls ( 38 times) and received the most penalty cards (7 yellow cards, 1 red card) in the group stage.

Particularly in the last round against U23 Uzbekistan, even though they were sure of their ticket to the quarterfinals, U23 Vietnam still had 12 fouls and had to receive 2 somewhat “naive” yellow cards, respectively from Duc Viet (minute 1). 27) due to an elbow foul and Hong Phuc (54th minute) due to… pushing the opposing team’s goalkeeper down in the penalty area.

“After a quiet period of Vietnamese Football, the fact that coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team passed the group stage after 2 wins is an encouraging result. However, if we talk about the recent performance, If it has satisfied the fans, I think it is not possible for U23 Vietnam to still have many limitations that need to be improved: the defense needs to play more focused but still have to maintain alertness and avoid losing composure. ; Attackers need to be more flexible, bringing the ball down to 1/3 of the opponent’s field needs to be done more continuously; players need to increase the variety of approaches to the opponent’s goal, instead of going forward continue to rely on fixed situations…,” journalist-commentator Vu Quang Huy commented on the limitations of U23 Vietnam after the 2024 U23 Asian group stage.

Waiting for the ‘rainbow’ after the rain?

After coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team ended their journey in the group stage of the 2024 Asian U23 Championship, many fans began to imagine a “dream scenario” – where U23 Vietnam recreates the miracles of other groups. he in Changzhou in 2018.

It can be said that luck was a factor that accompanied coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s team right from the moment of drawing the tournament: U23 Vietnam fell into a “medium range” group with a favorable schedule. When encountering opponents one after another with increasing “difficulty”, it helps the Khanh Hoa-born strategist to easily plan and nourish the pillars…; In the final match of the group stage, Saudi Arabia U23 suddenly lost 1-2 to Iraq U23 also helped Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan and his team “avoid” the opponent who defeated us in the quarterfinals two years ago. .

“Iraq U23 lost to Thailand U23 in the group stage. Saying that does not mean Iraq U23 is a weak team, however I want to emphasize that with the nature of the knockout match, anything can happen and there are opportunities for the two teams are 50-50. The Vietnamese team is here to compete and the players will show a different face in the quarterfinals,” the captain of U23 Vietnam said before the quarterfinals.

Neighbor Thailand’s 2-0 victory over U23 Iraq in the group stage could be the inspiration for U23 Vietnam to create an “earthquake” in the quarterfinals, with the foundation of disciplined play, knowing who you are. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan has been building generations of young players.

“It can be said that completing the goal of reaching the quarterfinals has contributed to removing psychological bottlenecks for the young players of U23 Vietnam. The final match against U23 Uzbekistan is also considered a success for the coach. Hoang Anh Tuan when the pillars rested, while new faces also had the opportunity to ‘warm up’ before the quarter-finals. I think, in a specific match, with a strong, physical spirit With strong strength and light feet, Vietnamese U23 players have every right to dream about a good result against their opponent U23 Iraq,” said former player Pham Nhu Thuan.

According to the match schedule, the encounter between U23 Vietnam and U23 Iraq in the quarterfinals will take place at 0:30 a.m. April 27 (Vietnam time) at Al Janoub Stadium.

The U23 Vietnam team will have two days to prepare for this match. This will be the necessary time for the players to recover as well as for coach Hoang Anh Tuan to come up with an optimal plan for the match against Iraq./.