ASIA U23 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE 2024
9:00 p.m. April 29: U23 Japan – U23 Iraq (Semi-final 1)
00:30 April 30: U23 Indonesia – U23 Uzbekistan (Semi-final 2)
10:30 p.m. May 2: Two losing teams in the semi-finals (Third place match)
10:30 p.m. May 3: Two winning teams in the semi-finals (Finals)
U23 Vietnam had to stop in the U23 Asian quarter-finals after losing 0-1 to U23 Iraq. This was the match in which coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s team received 1 red card, 2 yellow cards and 1 penalty.
Manh Hung received a red card in the match against Iraq U23 (Photo: Getty).
Once again, VAR continues to be a “nightmare” for U23 Vietnam. In the 60th minute, goalkeeper Quan Van Chuan swung his arm excessively, leading to a penalty kick. Not stopping there, in the 90th minute, Manh Hung also received a direct red card for bad play. At the end of the match, Quan Van Chuan was lucky not to be penalized for a similar ungainly swinging situation.
This is not the first time that U23 Vietnam has received warnings about situations of “redundant limbs” or bad actions. VAR appeared and those violations could not avoid the scrutiny of the VAR room referees.
Notably, this is the tournament in which U23 Vietnam received the most direct red cards with two. The two players disqualified from this year’s tournament are Ngoc Thang (in the match against U23 Kuwait) and Manh Hung (U23 Iraq).
Previously, we received red cards from Dinh Trong (Asia U23 2020), Quan Van Chuan (Asia U23 2022). In the 2016 tournament, Xuan Truong received a straight red card and Nam Anh received two yellow cards in the match against UAE U23.
At the 2018 Asian U23 Championship, U23 Vietnam reached the finals (playing a total of 6 matches) but did not receive any red cards.
U23 Vietnam received two red cards for the first time in an Asian U23 final (Photo: AFC).
With 9 yellow cards and 2 red cards in the 2024 U23 Asian Championship, U23 Vietnam also experienced the tournament receiving the most cards in history.
In the 2024 Asian U23 tournament alone, U23 Vietnam is the team that received the second most red cards, only behind U23 Kuwait (3 red cards). With a total of 14 red cards, this year’s tournament also witnessed the highest number of players sent off in history.
Not only the U23 team but other Vietnamese football teams also need to pay special attention to “extra limbs” situations in international matches. V-League habits have been causing Vietnamese teams to suffer consequences because of the harshness of VAR.
