Promise to change
Vietnam U23 team finished the group stage at the 2024 U23 Asia Championship with 2 wins, 1 loss, ranked 2nd in Group D. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team soon completed the task of winning tickets to the quarterfinals after 2 rounds. leading with 6 points from U23 Kuwait and U23 Malaysia.
In the last round, U23 Vietnam lost 3 goals to U23 Uzbekistan, a match in which goalkeeper Van Viet’s net could have vibrated more if the opponent had made good use of the opportunities created.
There may be many people who are dissatisfied and still notice many shortcomings in the performance of U23 Vietnam players, but from this match, it is difficult to… draw conclusions about U23 Vietnam, because this This is a squad where coach Hoang Anh Tuan has 8 personnel adjustments. Therefore, after the match, the Khanh Hoa strategist said that U23 Vietnam will show “a different face in the quarterfinals”.
Of course, experts and fans are curious to know what the difference will be. Because with only about 3 days to prepare for the quarterfinals, creating a complete difference in expertise and psychology is almost impossible.
Everyone can easily see that, even when winning tickets to the next round, U23 Vietnam’s problems lie in the two most important aspects – psychology and expertise. The general professional level is not too good, the mentality is weak, so there are mistakes in defense and ineffective finishing – even when scoring more goals (5) than 10 other teams in the group stage.
Unstable psychology leads to lack of concentration, startles during many of the opponent’s attacks and also because of carrying over “habits” from V.League – as Mr. Tuan said.
Change in what way?
When the coach born in 1968 talked about the difference in the knockout round, where every player is strong, of course, the question is how U23 Vietnam will change. Is the returning squad 1 enough to be on par in terms of strength with Iraq U23?
The West Asian team lost to U23 Thailand but then won against U23 Saudi Arabia – the defending champion. That is the reason why people can be confused about their true strength.
But no matter what, as mentioned, Iraq U23 is still rated higher. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan admits that, the players understand that, so fans are even more curious about what aspects the team will change for the goal of victory.
At this stage, it won’t be about scores anymore but about going forward or going home. So even if you are underestimated, the goal is still to win.
And with such a situation, one can understand why the 55-year-old coach soon let his students practice kicking 11 meters. The preparation is aimed at Quan Van Chuan’s strategy of being ready to “die to the death” to protect the net before confidently entering the “gunfight” like how U23 Vietnam did against their opponents in the 2018 tournament.
It is not too much to say that, even if U23 Vietnam chose to play thoroughly defensively in this match, not many people would criticize it. Because that is the necessary calculation and assessment at the decisive moment. It shows the necessary pragmatism in the position of the weaker.
Many people will believe in the promise of change of U23 Vietnam, because Vietnamese football is like that, in difficult moments, the players always show more than 100% spirit and concentration.
Therefore, we can also hope for a positive result from U23 Vietnam, even though we know it will be very difficult.
The match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Iraq was broadcast live on VTV5 and FPT Play channels.
