Coach Hoang Anh Tuan: “It’s a shame that U23 Vietnam lost but I’m still happy”

Despite playing very hard and playing on par with U23 Iraq in the quarter-finals of the 2024 U23 Asian Finals at Al Janoub Stadium (Doha, Qatar) on the evening of April 26, U23 Vietnam could not continue.

The turning point of the match was a controversial foul by goalkeeper Quan Van, leading to the only goal in the match.

Assessing the defeat against U23 Iraq, coach Hoang Anh Tuan said: “U23 Vietnam aims for beautiful and fair play despite unforeseen situations.

At the end of the match, even though we received a red card, we still chose an attacking style of play and were determined until the last minute. Because this will help young players develop better.

I would like to congratulate Iraq U23 for winning tickets to the semi-finals. The journey and adventure of U23 Vietnam has stopped here. I am very satisfied with what the players have shown. It’s a pity that the match was decided by an 11m penalty. But that’s football.”

In the loss to U23 Iraq, VAR technology caused U23 Vietnam to suffer many unfavorable decisions from the referee, and was the main reason for the defeat. However, coach Hoang Anh Tuan still admitted that VAR did well and brought fairness in football.

“The role of VAR is very prominent in this tournament. Not only U23 Vietnam, many matches and even top teams have had many red cards, yellow cards or penalties after the referee checked. VAR I think foul situations that VAR points out can always happen in football.

VAR helps to apply football rules more strictly, but there are situations that I think do not deserve a red card. VAR, referees and rules want football to become better,” the Khanh Hoa strategist shared.

Regarding U23 Vietnam’s penalty after the referee checked VAR, coach Hoang Anh Tuan said: “I only focus on expertise and care about how my players play. Of course, from my perspective , I can’t say whether the penalty was right or wrong. That’s the referee’s job. The match is over, I don’t want to repeat that situation again.”

Although U23 Vietnam stopped in the quarterfinals and could not repeat the miracle of 2018, this is a tournament in which coach Hoang Anh Tuan believes that his students have succeeded by improving after each match.

“U23 Vietnam will improve after each match. As you can see, in this match U23 Vietnam showed many different things compared to previous matches.

Remember, today’s opponent of U23 Vietnam is U23 Iraq, not U23 Kuwait or U23 Malaysia. With such a strong team, we all saw how U23 Vietnam played today. They have improved professionally and tactically. I feel happy about that.

As I said, if Iraq U23 wins tickets to the semi-finals we will still be happy. And if U23 Vietnam gets to the semi-finals, that would be great. At the end of the match, we are still friends,” coach Hoang Anh Tuan concluded.