Remembering the old match…
At the 2018 U23 Asian Finals (Changzhou, China). Coach Park Hang Seo and his team are also in Group D, but with U23 Syria and two very strong opponents, U23 Korea and U23 Australia.
In the opening match, U23 Vietnam lost 1-2 to U23 Korea.
In the second match, we unexpectedly defeated Australia U23 with a score of 1-0 thanks to Quang Hai’s goal.
And got a 0-0 draw with Syria U23 in the final match to win the right to continue to the quarterfinals.
In this knockout round, U23 Vietnam must face a very strong opponent, U23 Iraq, the team that once won the tournament in 2013!
In this match, Vietnamese football fans witnessed a breathtaking score chase with 6 goals divided equally between each team over the course of 120 minutes. This result sent the match into a penalty shootout.
Right at the first shot of U23 Iraq, goalkeeper Bui Tien Dung excellently caught it. With all 5 successful penalties, U23 Vietnam continued to the semi-finals, to the joy of many people.
The joy of U23 Vietnam’s victory over U23 Iraq – source: AFC
What is the playing style of U23 Vietnam against U23 Iraq – 2018?
Facing U23 Vietnam in the quarterfinals in 1998, U23 Iraq arranged a 4-2-3-1 formation with the tallest player being player A.Hussein.
The starting lineup of U23 Vietnam and U23 Iraq – 2018 – source: AFC
On the U23 Vietnam side, coach Park Hang Seo let Doan Van Hau and Ha Duc Chinh sit out and let Pham Xuan Manh and Phan Van Duc enter the field from the start. He used a 4-5-1 formation with the highest player being Nguyen Cong Phuong.
Match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Iraq in 2018 – source: Internet
This shows that, although the familiar formation that Coach Park Hang Seo favors is 3-4-3, facing a strong opponent and the knockout nature of the match, Coach Park carefully chose a defensive playing style. conquer the majority to enter the game; Take the midfield area to dispute and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.
With that way of playing, Park Hang Seo and his team entered the game with a very confident mentality. Despite defending in large numbers, U23 Vietnam is still proactive in attacking situations. The surprise came in the 13th minute, from a corner on the right wing, Van Duc had a great assist for Cong Phuong to score the ball to open the score for U23 Vietnam.
Hussein then equalized the score 1-1 for Iraq U23 in the 29th minute from the penalty spot. Draw 1-1, both sides led each other to extra time.
Entering the second extra time, coach Park Hang Seo added Van Toan to the field, switching from a 5-4-1 scheme to a 3-4-3 rich in attack power and is also the scheme that coach Park Hang Seo prefers. This flexible strategy immediately brought success to U23 Vietnam when in just 4 minutes, from 108 to 112 Vietnam scored two consecutive goals. But U23 Iraq was equally excellent with equalizing goals to pull U23 Vietnam into a penalty shootout. Those were also the moments that recorded the names of Bui Tien Dung and U23 Vietnam when they brought the spirit of steel to overcome U23 Iraq to enter the semi-finals!
What is Coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s playing style for U23 Vietnam in this fateful quarter-final match?
U23 Vietnam and U23 Iraq – U23 Asia Quarterfinals 2024 – source: VFF
Coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s familiar and favorite playing style is still 3-4-3. That is also one of the reasons why experts and Vietnamese football fans believe that under coach Hoang Anh Tuan, Vietnamese U23 players “have returned” to the same playing style as under coach Park Hang Seo.
However, we also see that, with this tactical plan, coach Hoang Anh Tuan has been very successful during his time leading youth football and was at least successful in the first two matches of the group stage at the U23 European Championship. Asia 2024 that we recently had the opportunity to watch.
2 goals of Nguyen Van Tung and Khuat Van Khang (U23 Vietnam) were selected in the Top 8 beautiful goals in the U23 Asian group stage 2024 – source: VFF
The 3-4-3 formation is especially suitable for teams that prioritize active and strong defensive fronts in boundary plays. The advantage of the 3-4-3 formation is that it is very good at counter-attacking because when the opponent deploys the ball quickly, the 3 central defenders can lock down the home field, limiting or cutting off that counter-attack situation. In addition, with the 3-4-3 formation, the team with a large force up front can apply a high pressing style, putting pressure on the opponent.
Football expert Doan Minh Xuong once analyzed: “The 3-4-3 diagram helps teams create flexibility in switching from attack to defense or vice versa. The 3-4-3 formation helps teams come up with different variations such as 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1”.
The 3-4-3 formation is suitable for teams with good defense and a solid attacking formation. In the position of 3 centre-backs, there needs to be players who are good at catching the opponent’s cards, keeping good positions and having 1vs-1 ability, especially players playing in the central position. We see this under Mr. Park’s time with a trio: Que Ngoc Hai (center), flanked by Tien Dung (left) and Duy Manh (right). To play this strategy well, it requires a versatile and physically strong squad.
That shows that the 3-4-3 style of play that coach Hoang Anh Tuan favors seems to have certain difficulties when the core of the current U23 team is not as good as the previous generation of seniors. It’s also harder to blame, when he only had no more than 10 days to receive troops and steer the U23 boat after the previous ups and downs. That is also the reason why U23 Vietnam’s play through the group stage matches has not been smooth, sometimes stepping on each other’s toes and making many positional errors as well as lacking solid coverage. The physical strength of U23 Vietnam is also currently a limited problem in being able to both attack and defend in the 3-4-3 formation. In addition, the quite tight schedule in this tournament has exhausted a lot of the young players’ strength and it is difficult for them to recover in time.
Getting to the quarterfinals, objectively speaking, is the talent of coach Hoang Anh Tuan, who many people often think is always “cool” with Vietnamese youth football. But it can also be seen that U23 Vietnam is lucky to be ranked in the “easy” group and lucky to meet the strongest opponent of the tournament in the final match after having 2 wins in the matches. before. Luckily, in Group C, U23 Iraq won against U23 Saudi Arabia in the last match, taking first place in the group, as if pushed into a “fate” match with U23 Vietnam in the quarterfinals, since 2018. Also in this tournament! Luckily, in that historic 2018 match, U23 Vietnam overcame U23 Iraq and that is the motivation and spiritual therapy for Hoang Anh Tuan and his students now. Another motivation that also brought spiritual and experience advantages to Hoang Anh Tuan and his team was that U23 Iraq lost 0-2 to U23 Thailand in the group stage of this tournament. This is a valuable opportunity that coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his students will definitely “analyze” before entering the match.
Return to the 2-0 victory in the group stage of U23 Thailand against U23 Iraq to see: U23 Thailand chose to play defensively to wait for the opportunity. This style of play clearly worked through the dangerous counterattacks of Thailand U23 and they scored 2 surprising goals. While U23 Iraq in this match was almost deadlocked.
From the above analysis, it can be seen that against a strong opponent like Iraq, Coach Ithsara Sritharo of Thailand’s U23 currently or Coach Park Hang Seo (in the U23 2018 quarterfinals) both choose a defensive style of play to approach the match. fight, then flexibly change the fighting method appropriately and succeed. This may also be the approach in coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s playing style when facing U23 Iraq in the U23 Asia quarter-final match on the night of April 27, to once again bring victory to U23 Vietnam. Male!?
Experts will have more in-depth assessments of this match. However, Vietnamese football fans are still hoping for another fairy tale, a magical journey to come to Hoang Anh Tuan and his team…
Beautiful moments of Vietnamese football at the 2018 Asian U23 Championship – Changzhou, China – source: Internet
….And before the ball kicks off, Vietnamese football fans always dream of a beautiful dream – As beautiful as the image of Changzhou with white snow every year…
April 2024
Tags: U23 Asia quarterfinals Vietnam Iraq play reach semifinals
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