U23 Southeast Asia Final: Waiting for a miracle

Tournament of Surprises

The young Timo Leste football team has never been a rival to the top teams in the region. The fact that U23 Timo Leste overcame host U23 Cambodia to reach the semi-finals of the U23 Southeast Asian tournament is a historic achievement. However, in the current context of Covid-19, it is not easy to say who is strong and who is weak because the epidemic can make the strongest team in theory become the weakest, even having to leave the tournament due to many players being infected with Covid.

U23 Indonesia, whose main players played very well at the AFF Cup 2022, was unable to participate in the tournament due to force majeure. U23 Vietnam defeated U23 Singapore 7-0, then defeated U23 Thailand 1-0 to meet U23 Timo Leste in the semi-finals. It seemed like an easy opponent, but the reality was completely the opposite.

U23 Vietnam only has 13 players (including the urgent reinforcements) to register for the match, while U23 Timo Leste has 23 players registered, not to mention having a longer break. So U23 Vietnam entered the match in a state of "immediate anxiety" for the coaching staff and players as well as a large number of fans, because the disruption of the force, the physical race and all the developments on the field will wear out the team of coach Dinh The Nam, if the match is not decided soon.

The reality of the match that followed showed that whatever we were worried about, "heaven" immediately gave us that. Worrying about one or more injured players because we only had one central defender and one goalkeeper. Captain central defender Anh Viet was injured and had to leave the field (the young SLNA player was recently added Ho Khac Luong to replace him). Then the ever-dangerous spearhead of U23 Vietnam, the hero in the match against Thailand, Trung Thanh, was on the field 2-3 times and finally could not run, so goalkeeper Liem Dieu was the last reserve player to be sent onto the field to play striker, both taking advantage of the usual height of goalkeepers to play with their heads and avoiding the situation of losing the ball to someone who is used to playing with his hands and now has to play with his feet. Not only that, Bao Toan, Dinh Hai, Nguyen Hoang and Trung Thanh all had the opportunity to shoot at the opponent's goal, shooting from afar, shooting from close range, and heading, but all of them slipped away, leaving many people regretful and worried.

U23 Vietnam practices in a context of severe shortage of people. Photo: VFF

And most importantly, the longer the match lasts, one side having only 2 substitutes compared to the other side having 5 substitutes will create a difference in physical strength, which is beneficial to the opponent. U23 Vietnam plays slowly to maintain the team's distance and ensure physical strength, but that is also why it is very difficult to create surprises for the opponent. The physical torture that lasted 120 minutes (2 regular halves and 2 extra halves) caused many U23 Vietnam players on the field to occasionally have to...sit down due to muscle tension.

Fortunately, the opponent could not turn all the advantages into goals. Fortunately, goalkeeper Tuan Hung, in a tense situation, rushed out to close the angle tightly to prevent Dima, the best player on U23 Timo Leste's side, from shooting. And it was Tuan Hung who became the hero when he successfully blocked the opponent's 4th penalty kick while the players assigned to take the penalty kicks of U23 Vietnam all completed their tasks excellently in a very... cold manner?

That is to say, in the conditions of Covid, even when facing a weak opponent, strong teams sweat. Although U23 Laos lost in the semi-finals, they surprisingly defeated U23 Malaysia in both previous matches and if they were lucky, they would not have lost to U23 Thailand. After the match, the opposing team's coach admitted that the U23 Vietnam players were of a higher class, but clearly, Mr. Dinh The Nam and his team had to wait for Tuan Hung's brilliant situation to win on the penalty spot, which is always considered to go hand in hand with luck.

Waiting for a miracle

As expected, U23 Vietnam will meet U23 Thailand again in the final (which can also be called the second leg final because the two teams met in the group stage). Strangely, the lineup of U23 Vietnam in the final decisive match will be very different when many key players have contracted Covid-19 and continue to be added.

Hopefully a miracle will happen when in 4 matches of the U23 Southeast Asia Championship 2022, U23 Vietnam will compete with 4 different teams with the goal of winning the championship and all 4 teams will complete the task excellently. There will be a lot to say about this tournament, about the miraculous overcoming of difficulties of coach Dinh The Nam and his team, about the victory over the pandemic and the victory over themselves to defeat the opponent. And moreover, to see that the youth training of Vietnamese football is really bringing positive results, laying the foundation for solid steps to reach new heights in the coming time.

U23 players are confident before the final match. Photo: VFF

After the semi-final match, Vietnam lost Doan Anh Viet due to injury. In return, Tran Quang Thinh had a negative PCR result, while the trio Dung Quang Nho, Truong Duc Manh and Song Lam Nghe An player Tran Manh Quynh were confirmed to have recovered from Covid-19. The team has a total of 15 players, but still have to wait for testing today to know if there are any more players missing.

During the training session on the afternoon of February 25, U23 Vietnam practiced with only 12 players. Therefore, the players only had one group to play ghost football. Due to the lack of players, even 2 assistants of coach Dinh The Nam had to enter the field to act as opponents. However, in general, the players were still very happy and confident to defeat Thai Lan for the second time in the tournament.

As for Thailand, striker Kroekphon Arbram believes that Thailand will not lose to Vietnam like in the group stage, when they meet again in the final of the U23 Southeast Asia today. "Thailand made some mistakes and paid the price by losing against Vietnam in the group stage. But we will not let that happen again. Thailand will overcome its shortcomings when meeting them again in the final. We have great confidence that we will defeat Vietnam," striker Kroekphon shared with Thai media before yesterday's training session.

"We are tired because of the tight schedule. But the whole team is ready to face Vietnam. We hope Thai fans will continue to cheer us on. We will try our best to defeat Vietnam and bring the Cup back to Thailand," Kroekphon added.

As for Thailand coach Salvador Garica, he was very cautious: “We watched U23 Vietnam play against Timor Leste with 80% of the squad changed, the quality of play was also completely different. But I watched the full 120 minutes so I have enough information to evaluate each position and know what to do to fight U23 Vietnam. Physical strength will be a factor affecting the match and I am doing everything to ensure the Thai players are most ready. I hope my team will win, but if we lose, life will still have to go on, and we still have to look to the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, head coach of U23 Vietnam Dinh The Nam was also very modest when he said that the result of the match against Thailand in the group stage was only for reference. “I highly appreciate the strength of this opponent, but U23 Vietnam has also studied them carefully. Currently, I only care about the recovery of the players to best prepare for the match against Thailand. The team has a very strong belief that we must achieve good results, all players have a spirit of solidarity and a desire to win,” he said.

Despite facing many disadvantages before the final match after a 120-minute physical torture and a severe shortage of players, U23 Vietnam received positive support from home. Those were words of encouragement from leaders as well as millions of fans. Immediately after the victory of the U23 Vietnam team, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called VFF acting president Tran Quoc Tuan. The Prime Minister praised and commended the U23 Vietnam team for overcoming many difficulties and striving to win to be present in the final match of the tournament. The Prime Minister said that this victory demonstrated the spirit and will of the Vietnamese people, which is the spirit of overcoming difficulties and not giving up in the face of difficulties caused by the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. At the same time, he wished the young players to continue to strive to achieve more achievements in the future for Vietnamese football.