Don't let youth football suddenly 'stand still' like that!

Many people must remember that before facing U23 Vietnam in the quarterfinals of the tournament, the head coach of U23 Saudi Arabia, Mr. Saad Al-Shehri, revealed that he “did not understand anything about U23 Vietnam” but affirmed that he would find the key to defeat this rising opponent. And he did, although he encountered some difficulties in the first half of the match.

U23 Vietnam - U23 Saudi Arabia. Photo archive

The two goals of U23 Saudi Arabia, strangely enough, were both marked by a player who very few people paid attention to, only played a moderate role in the previous group stage matches, often playing as a left-back, that is Moteb Al-Harbi-12. A goal in the first half and an assist in the second half both from the left wing showed how dangerous this "card" is in the all-star lineup of U23 Saudi Arabia.

The important detail mentioned above shows that the place that was once considered the trigger, the starting point of the U23 Vietnam's powerful attacks in this tournament is the place that was most thoroughly exploited by the opponent. Under Mr. Park Hang-seo and Mr. Gong Oh-kyun, the pair of attacking full-backs is considered the most important weapon in the tactical diagram, ensuring the ability to attack as well as retreat to defend because the "shuttle" nature is very physically and mentally exhausting.

In fact, it is not difficult for U23 Vietnam's opponents, especially a veteran team like U23 Saudi Arabia, to "read" this style of play when they know how to exploit the process of advancing, leaving gaps behind to take advantage of opportunities, even very small in a tight, tense match. U23 Saudi Arabia, specifically Moteb Al-Habri, took advantage of a moment of pause in the entire U23 Vietnam defense when the opponent had someone on the ground, to easily overcome both Tien Long and Viet Anh, scoring a tricky goal against Van Chuan, which is an extremely rare situation in this tournament.

Unfortunately, both of the opponent's goals came from the same position, but U23 Vietnam could not prevent or neutralize them, and the serious mistake of U23 Vietnam also came from the same position of Tien Long, who had played excellently in the previous match against U23 Korea and was an irreplaceable link in the U23 Vietnam defense under Mr. Gong Oh-kyun. Individual errors leading to collective errors being repeated against an experienced opponent showed the fatal weaknesses that Vietnamese youth football must quickly overcome if it really wants to reach new heights in the near future, although this is not something that can be done just by saying it.

It should be remembered that while Viet Anh and Thanh Binh have only started a few times for the Vietnam national team (most recently in the 1-1 draw with Japan in the third qualifying round), the rest are positions that were called up to "enjoy" the team atmosphere and have not been on the field, even from the reserve position. Meanwhile, U23 Saudi Arabia has 13 national players, many of whom have played 5-10 matches for the team, with young talent Firas Al-Buraikan having played 22 times for the national team, scoring 6 goals. Not only against U23 Vietnam but also against formidable opponents at the continental level, this team has shown superiority in terms of tactics and techniques, in the ability to impose the game, dominate the game and win with the special achievement of not conceding any goals, scoring the most goals in the tournament with 13 goals...

This obvious reality helps those responsible for Vietnamese football learn good practices from developed football backgrounds, boldly innovate and change their practices, including boldly arranging and using young, potential players to increase the friction and impact necessary for the training and maturation process.

To be absolutely sure from now on, even in youth football, anywhere, anytime, there can be no such thing as an unreasonable, naive “slowdown” against any opponent and then losing everything. Also definitely not to let the situation of a player playing extremely well and then extremely poorly happen again, meaning lacking the necessary stability and durability like the story of Tien Long in the unfortunate quarter-final match mentioned above, like Thanh Binh who was highly rated before the tournament but in fact Viet Anh played better, like Tuan Tai who exploded in the first matches, then gradually became silent…

Just a hypothesis but it should be said: if only U23 Vietnam had more Viet Anh, Thanh Binh... trained from many official matches of the Vietnam National Team like Saudi Arabia did, then who knows, youth football could create new Thuong Chau and more...?