Vietnam team with the goal of passing the group stage of the Asian Cup

That isinjury status, had to be absent before the departure of a series of pillars such as Van Lam, Ngoc Hai, Hoang Duc, Tien Linh... causing the team's strength to become "lacking below, lacking above" from the defense to the attack. That is the bringing up of many young players, although having strength and will but lacking international competition experience.

And those opponents in Group D such as the Japanese National Team or the Iraqi National Team are all top Asian teams, full of strength and class on the continental arena, very likely to cause the young players of the Vietnamese National Team to "lose direction" when entering the match...

If in the 2007 and 2019 ASIAN Cups, the Vietnamese team under Alfred Riedl and Park Hang-seo reached the quarter-finals, now this goal seems... far-fetched and unimaginable! Because after 9 months with French coach Philippe Trousier, the Vietnamese team is still struggling with the "attacking ball control" philosophy that the coach pursues, with weak defense and blunt attacks.

The two matches in the 2nd World Cup Qualifiers against the Philippines and Iraq teams had acceptable results (1 win, 1 loss) but the playing style clearly had many problems, while a series of key players such as Hung Dung, Hoang Duc, Tan Tai... were not used due to the doubts of many fans near and far.

Of course, the French coach and his students always have strong faith in themselves, in their hidden strength, in their outstanding efforts to protect the colors of the Vietnamese National Team in the continental arena and further in the 2nd qualifying round of the World Cup in March 2024. For the first time, the Vietnamese National Team's goal has a Vietnamese-American player who played very well in the goal of a European team, even though he is 32 years old this year, Nguyen Filip.

The saying “the goalkeeper is half the team” is very true for the current situation of the Vietnam National Team. When and once Nguyen Filip plays well, neutralizing all attacks from the opponent, the strength of the whole team will be raised and if luck comes along, the yellow star army can do the unthinkable, whether the opponent is Japan or Iraq.

The next hopeful thing for the current Vietnam National Team is the return of star Quang Hai after a long time of unsuccessfully playing football abroad and returning to the emerging team Hanoi Police. Looking at the way Quang Hai scored a "super product" in the match between Hanoi Police and Binh Duong in the 8th round of V-League recently, if Mr. Philippe Troussier knows how to exploit, utilize, and reasonably arrange personnel around this "satellite", it is very possible that everything will be "smooth sailing, smooth sailing" much more than before.

And even though top striker Tien Linh was absent at the last minute, the Vietnamese team's attack still has star Tuan Hai of Hanoi FC, who has physical strength, will, plays in many positions and has the ability to score in big tournaments such as the recent AFC Champions League or the 3rd qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup before that.

It is no coincidence that many people are waiting for the trio Quang Hai - Tuan Hai - Van Toan to show their strength in this high-class tournament when they are playing at a high level at their clubs and are no strangers to continental competitions for a long time.

While the V-League is playing with increased competition, many injuries have occurred to a series of pillars as mentioned above, besides that, a series of young players that Mr. Philippe Troussier trusted and entrusted also played better, clearly maturing through each round. While Dinh Bac continuously scored and scored goals for Quang Nam despite not being able to play in his best position, Thai Son was always the main player in Dong A Thanh Hoa and increasingly proved his role as a "lungless man" in the midfield of this team.

We also cannot forget Minh Trong - who is associated with the recent rise of Binh Duong, or the role of Tuan Tai and Van Khang at The Cong Viettel even though this team is facing many difficulties in the recent rounds...

When Mr. Philippe Troussier announced the list of 30 players going to Qatar, people clearly saw that this was a new team, full of fighting spirit, able to create surprises for opponents if they have always been familiar with and know how to "read" the Vietnamese team.

The goal of the Golden Star Army is of course to aim to pass the group stage with the familiar main opponent, the Indonesian Team, limit the number of goals and cards against strong opponents like Japan and Iraq to continue with the 3rd place in the group (among the 3rd place teams with the best results) like the Vietnam Team under Park Hang-seo did, did well.

It is an easy yet difficult goal, difficult yet easy because the Indonesian team is not a strong opponent, and the Iraqi team has just faced us at My Dinh Stadium in November 2023 - a match in which we had to accept a regrettable loss in the last minute of extra time. To see, everything with Mr. Philippe Troussier and his team needs to try to the highest level and when the tournament has not taken place, everyone still has hope to strive for, to achieve./.