After Indonesia’s victory over Korea in the early morning of April 26, I think it will be a moral encouragement for the Vietnamese players in the match with Iraq, a match in which there are many difficulties awaiting the players. we. The important thing for the U23 Vietnamese players before this match is their mentality. The team’s teachers and students were in the most comfortable psychological state when they achieved their goal of passing the group stage, the rest is to strive to advance as far as possible.
That comfortable mentality will help our players approach the match with U23 Iraq in the quarterfinals more comfortably, without a heavy psychological state when competing with a higher rated opponent. Many people have a lighter assessment of Iraq than Saudi Arabia, but I think these two teams are equally strong and “tough-faced”.
After an unexpected loss to Thailand on the opening day, Iraq gradually strengthened its squad and won two important wins against Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia to get a ticket to the next round. In my opinion, Iraq is still a strong and very “formidable” opponent for coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s army. Especially through the group stage, the difference in strength between Southeast Asian football and top Asian football is quite clear.
In addition to the surprise of Indonesia when it replaced Australia to win the ticket to the next round, and then eliminated Korea, Malaysia and Thailand showed their limitations. In the Vietnamese team, our highlight is the competitive spirit, good compliance with tactical discipline and the explosiveness of individuals on attack. But besides that, the depth of our force is still our concern, as the performances of the “2nd squad” in the match against Uzbekistan showed.
That’s why meeting Iraq in the quarter-finals, I don’t think is easy at all, caution and proper assessment of the opponent is very necessary. What I hope is that they will enter the game with psychological comfort, play with all their might so that they can hope to surprise. Regarding the gameplay in recent matches, it is clear that there has not been a significant mutation. After Mr. Troussier withdrew, the U23 Vietnam team returned to counter-attacking defense, a style of play that no longer surprised the teams.
It is likely that Iraq will not be in a hurry to push their attacking formation higher, they will operate the ball control style like the majority are operating at this finals. Iraq may concentrate a large number of people in the midfield as if to weaken the Vietnamese players to wait for the opportunity to “strike”. The knockout format also does not require quick kicks too early to score many goals, so teams will operate with certainty and pragmatism.
And once Iraq plays like that, it will make it very difficult for Vietnamese players to fight when our main attack is clearly still counter-attacking defense. It will be an unpredictable competition, not only a battle of wits in the technical area but also a physical battle between the players on the field. The important thing is that Vietnamese players need to feel comfortable when entering the game. If they win, it’s good, but if they lose, they also know where they are so that VFF will have a plan to continue investing in this group of players because In 2 years, you will be the core of the national team.
It will be a difficult match for Vietnam, I hope we can drag the match as far as possible like in Changzhou in 2018, we won against Iraq on penalty kicks. Hopefully so, but in reality, this match will be very tough for Vietnamese players.
DOAN MINH XUONG
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