'Treble' for Vietnamese football at SEA Games 31, why not?

Vietnam U23 continuously participated in the 2022 Southeast Asian U23 Championship (actually the U21 team with additional players), the 2022 Dubai International Friendly Tournament, not to mention previously participating in the 2022 Asian U23 qualifying round. Based on those tournaments, Coach Park Hang-seo is focusing on a force considered the strongest to date with 32 players, including 3 players over 23 years old, training in Phu Tho and ready to enter the match as best as possible.

Of course, Mr. Park Hang-seo has a list of 50 players ready to add. Meanwhile, rival Thailand has also announced a list of 50 players, including 7 people over 23 years old, for the campaign to regain the SEA Games gold medal... Surely, Mr.Park Hang-seoalso "targets" players over 23 years old, although not announced, to promptly join the team if necessary.

If U23 Vietnam will face many difficulties to defend the only SEA Games gold medal won more than 2 years ago because opponents Thailand and Indonesia are eyeing to usurp it, it seems that in this playground, the Vietnamese women's team is much more relaxed, although the current opponents are no less strong. In the hands of the women's team, there are currently 6 gold medals won in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017 and 2019 and is certainly one of the "big sisters" of women's football in the region. Coach Mai Duc Chung and his team have just competed successfully at the 2022 Asian Women's Football Championship, winning a ticket to the 2023 World Cup for the first time, so they are even more determined to defend and maintain the impressive achievements they have achieved over the past many years.

U23 Vietnam currently has 32 players for the SEA Games 31 campaign.

Currently, the Vietnamese women's team is training in Korea and has had some really useful matches. As we know, the opponent this time at the SEA Games is not only Thailand or Myanmar but also the Philippines, a team that has just surprisingly won a ticket to the World Cup before. This is a team with only 5-6 players playing domestically, but many players are playing in Europe and America, so it is really formidable. If we are subjective, we will soon pay the price even though we are playing at home. Hopefully, Mr. Mai Duc Chung knows clearly "enemy, us", knows how to arouse the strength of solidarity and unity in the women's team, and exploits the weaknesses in the difference in level within the opponent to continue to make a difference this time.

The most worrying team at the moment is certainly Vietnam Futsal, as coach Pham Minh Giang and his team, although still winning a ticket to the 2022 Asian Futsal Championship from the 3rd place achievement in the Southeast Asian tournament, are not in good form as usual. While the two opponents Thailand and Indonesia have really gotten into form and played coherently, Van Vu, Quoc Nam, Doan Phat, Van Hieu... are showing signs of slowing down, at least compared to the time they attended the 2021 World Cup.

Everyone knows that due to the epidemic, domestic tournaments have been postponed for a long time, causing training and top-level competition to be interrupted, so the above result is inevitable. The Vietnamese team's poor performance in the third qualifying round is a specific example, and now the Vietnamese Futsal team is not really showing its best, which is also the reason, the deep and realistic reason. It is worth mentioning that before, Vietnamese Futsal was only worried about the formidable opponent Thailand, but now there are two more "mountains" in front of them that are not easy to overcome, namely Indonesia and Myanmar. The determination to win the first SEA Games gold medal at home that the Vietnamese Futsal team has just set is being "shaken" violently after what happened in the regional tournament, considered the pre-SEA Games tournament recently. An overthrow against Thailand and Indonesia is really difficult, unless the Vietnam Futsal Team reaches the desired peak of form in this tournament, while the opponents go through a period of good form as we "dream"?

Midfielder Do Hung Dung officially received the captain's armband of U23 Vietnam team aiming for the Gold Medal of SEA Games 31. Photo: TTO

So, the Vietnamese football teams at the tournamentSEA Games 31It will not be easy to achieve the set goal when the opponent is not inferior in every aspect, if not to say that there are aspects that are even more outstanding than the home team. Knowing clearly, knowing in advance like that is not to be content, to retreat, but the main thing is to identify the not small difficulties ahead, to have higher determination, stronger courage in all circumstances. A treble for the U23 team, the women's team and the futsal team is something that could not be more wonderful, but if not achieved, it is not a disaster, because sports competition depends on many factors from form, courage and luck.

And luck does not always come to those who do not try, who do not dare to go all the way when the referee has not blown the whistle to end the match./.