At 0:30 on April 27, U23 Vietnam will meet U23 Iraq in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Asian U23 tournament in Qatar. Will coach Hoang Anh Tuan have a strategy to help U23 Vietnam overcome this opponent that is considered very strong?
Midfielder Luong Duy Cuong (right) plays the most stable game in defense. Photo: VFF
Speaking after the loss to U23 Uzbekistan in the final match of Group D, coach Hoang Anh Tuan said that U23 Vietnam will show a different face in the quarterfinals against U23 Iraq. That is understandable because the players’ performance was too lackluster against U23 Uzbekistan. The explanation for this defeat can be that the coach from Khanh Hoa changed many players in the starting lineup and his mentality was to soon win the right to continue. However, facing high-class opponent Uzbekistan, the U23 Vietnam team clearly revealed many problems. Meanwhile, U23 Iraq is at the same level as U23 Uzbekistan.
In the three matches in the group stage, U23 Vietnamese players all showed confusion, lack of connection, often stepped on each other’s feet, and had many loopholes in their defense. Even though the defense has a large number of troops, there are still many gaps for opponents to exploit. Professional immaturity is evident in all 4 goals conceded (3 goals against U23 Uzbekistan and 1 goal against U23 Kuwait), all of which stemmed from inattentive situations by the defense on the left wing.
In addition to being poor at escaping pressing, the midfielders also lacked boldness and ideas, leading to countless passes to the goalkeeper. The attacking pieces in U23 Vietnam’s playing style are not really effective. Of the 5 goals scored in the group stage by U23 Vietnam, 2 goals came from fixed situations (2-0 win over U23 Malaysia), 1 goal came from the opponent’s goalkeeper’s mistake (kicking the ball into the opponent’s foot). Vi Hao in the 3-1 win over U23 Kuwait). There were only two plays that resulted in goals from the coordination of the players, both of which took place in the match against U23 Kuwait, which was Van Truong slotted Van Tung to score and Thai Son played a pass to eliminate the opponent’s defense to score. Vi Hao rushed down to score. U23 Vietnam’s shots down the sidelines and crosses inside were almost ineffective. Wingers Van Cuong, Van Khang, or Minh Quang do not yet have high “damage” passes.
The bright spot for U23 Vietnam to be more confident in the quarterfinals is that the defense played more focused in the second half of the match against U23 Uzbekistan, not allowing the opponent to score. U23 Vietnam’s counter-attacks also made it difficult for Uzbekistan’s U23 defense, although they were still inaccurate in their finishing shots.
In the last 3 confrontations at the U23 level, Vietnam and Iraq were quite evenly matched with each team winning 1 match, losing 1 match and drawing 1 match. At this year’s U23 Asian finals, U23 Iraq started slowly with a 0-2 loss to U23 Thailand. However, after that they played extremely well, winning against U23 Tajikistan 4-2 and overcoming defending champion U23 Saudi Arabia 2-1, to win the right to enter the quarterfinals.
If they still play without cohesion like in the matches in the group stage, U23 Vietnam will hardly be able to get good results against U23 Iraq. Hopefully U23 Vietnam will show a different face as coach Hoang Anh Tuan announced to be able to repeat the miracle of 2018. At that time, U23 Vietnam under the guidance of coach Park Hang-seo drew with U23 Iraq 3 -3, before winning by penalty shootout 5-3, also in the quarterfinals of the U23 Asian Championship.
NGUYEN MINH
