With a squad consisting of many reserve players, U23 Vietnam had to suffer a devastating 0-3 loss to Uzbekistan. This is understandable when the opponent is too strong. Luckily for coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team, this is just a “procedural” match when both teams already hold the ticket to continue on to the quarterfinals. Even the losing team can “breathe easier” with only must meet an opponent that is considered less strong in the knockout round.
Therefore, this is an extremely useful match for young Vietnamese players when the “reserve team” has the opportunity to compete in the continental arena, as well as play football with a comfortable mind, not too much. placing emphasis on winning and losing – something that rarely happens in this type of high-end arena. And indeed, the match against U23 Uzbekistan showed that Vietnam’s U23 players played quite tenaciously, keeping a clean sheet throughout the second half despite having to concede 3 goals in the first half.
However, in that match there were many bright spots, coach Hoang Anh Tuan must have had a headache with the “error” situation outside Duc Viet’s expertise. In the 27th minute of the match, when U23 Vietnam was leading by 1 goal, the referee had to stop the match to consult VAR, for the reason of checking the situation that could potentially lead to a red card when the young HAGL player hit the ball. cold, no shadow of the opponent.
The recorded images show that Duc Viet took action to hit the opponent’s elbow in the midfield area, out of the referee’s view in a situation that was not dangerous. Luckily for this young German football player, the referee only issued a yellow card warning, instead of a red card.
Although this cold shot did not lead to too serious consequences, it would certainly make coach Hoang Anh Tuan upset because it was an ugly mark in a match where his students should have focused on their expertise. , rather than the spicy tricks that are the “specialty” of “Vo League”.
If the foul that led to a penalty by Ngoc Thang in the match against U23 Kuwait had quite serious consequences at that time, causing U23 Vietnam to concede a goal and at the same time lose the advantage over the person in the right position. The most sensitive moment of the match, it only shows the poor ability to judge and handle situations of the young players on the payroll of Hong Linh Ha Tinh Club, as for Duc Viet’s situation, as well as Van Truong’s in the match. The match against U23 Kuwait showed a lot of ugliness.
If Van Truong’s obvious foul play or Duc Viet’s cold shot took place in the V.League, they would likely receive a lot of praise, because they are “smart”, “weird”… when it comes to catching yellow cards. to the opponent, or escape a red card despite playing coldly. But when such “low-lying” behavior takes place in a continental tournament, it will receive ironic and disdainful views for a football system that is “far from professional”.
It’s worth mentioning that Duc Viet’s ugly cold shot belonged to a young HAGL player – a training center famous for ethics and fair play. Nearly 10 years ago, Mr. Duc – the owner of HAGL Club, bluntly declared to the young players: “Anyone who kicks badly or argues with the referee will be kicked out“.
Losing to U23 Uzbekistan, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team had a “lighter burden” as they only had to meet U23 Iraq – the team that lost to U23 Thailand in the group stage, instead of defending champion U23 Saudi Arabia. This clearly gives U23 Vietnam a wider window to pass the quarterfinals, even though that “door” is quite narrow.
Duc Viet’s “bad hand” almost caused U23 Vietnam to play without players.
The Vietnamese team also recently met Iraq in the 2023 Asian Cup. In that match, an ugly “error” also caused coach Troussier and his team to suffer. When the Vietnamese team had an advantage with a goal to take the lead, Khuat Van Khang suddenly jumped on the opponent’s back in a “Vo League” style, and then received a red card to leave the field. end of the first round. In that match, the Vietnamese team lost.
Passing the group stage is already a victory for U23 Vietnam, in the context of having to “change generals” right before the U23 Asian Finals, but with what coach Hoang Anh Tuan is doing, even AFC has to express praise. a better result is to be expected, and not impossible.
U23 Vietnam is not afraid of strong opponents, coach Hoang Anh Tuan always knows how to “inspire” his students at decisive moments. It’s just that both this Khanh Hoa coach and former coach Troussier had to “give up” on the “blind spot” of the V.League-style behavior of young students, only to fail because of mistakes. It’s both unnecessary and frustrating.
Video U23 Vietnam 0-3 U23 Uzbekistan (source: FPT Play)
