Vietnam team needs 'cool heads' to reach World Cup

The Vietnamese futsal team has had its best performance since the beginning of the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship. Coach Diego Raul's students played disciplined football, with many calculations and impressive tactics, even making the third strongest team in Asia struggle.

Uzbekistan repeatedly rushed to find an equalizer in this match. Coach Venancio Lopez's students got what they wanted in the last 6 minutes.

This is the time when the Vietnamese futsal team is in decline in terms of both physical strength and concentration. Coach Diego Raul's team lost two goals in two corner kicks.

That reflected the lack of concentration and, more importantly, the physical strength of the Vietnamese futsal team after having to continuously fend off Uzbekistan's attacks.

However, coach Diego Raul's team played their best match since the beginning of the tournament. Duc Hoa and his teammates hit the goal post of goalkeeper Elmurudov three times. A match that coach Diego Raul was proud of his players for fulfilling the requirements he had conveyed when he came to lead the team.

The current Vietnamese futsal players dare to play with any opponent and no longer play passively, waiting for counter-attacks to find goals. The current coordination and playing ideas are very clear, that is the remarkable mark of the coach who won the 2016 World Cup with Argentina.

It was also the wish of the fans when witnessing the performance of Duc Hoa and his teammates. Many people regretted that Tu Minh Quang missed the opportunity to score in the 37th minute against Uzbekistan, at that time if the score was 2-1, the situation might have been different.

Before the tournament, the absence of two high-performing players, Dinh Cong Vien and especially Nguyen Minh Tri, also greatly affected the team's performance.

The defeat is over and now many challenges still await coach Diego Raul and his team. The Argentine coach needs to re-establish a stable state for the Vietnamese futsal team, ready to face Kyrgyzstan in the upcoming play-off match.

Coach Diego Raul has pointed out that the disadvantage of his team compared to their opponents on April 26 is physical strength. The Vietnamese futsal team had two physically exhausting matches with the 3rd and 4th ranked opponents in Asia, Uzbekistan and Thailand.

The Argentine strategist needs his players to quickly forget the defeat and focus on recovering both physically and mentally to play at their best. If they defeat Kyrgyzstan, coach Diego Raul and his team will still have a match against the winner of the Iraq and Afghanistan match.

To get the last ticket of Asia to attend the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024 in Uzbekistan this summer, it is really not a simple challenge for the Vietnamese futsal team.

Coach Diego Raul and his team need to be well prepared physically and mentally to overcome difficulties. The team that can maintain the most concentration and stability at the present time will most likely win the remaining ticket to Uzbekistan for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

The match between Vietnam futsal team and Kyrgyzstan will take place at 4:00 p.m. on April 26. Before that, at 2:00 p.m. is the Iraq - Afghanistan match.