Decoding the U19 Vietnam earthquake

(Baonghean.vn) - Right after Qatari referee Khamis Al Marri blew the whistle to end the match between U19 Vietnam and U19 Bahrain; the country's football fans burst into joy when witnessing the U19 players make history - reaching the semi-finals of the U19 Asian Football Championship for the first time and what few people expected was that with this victory, Coach Hoang Anh Tuan's students officially won a ticket to Korea to participate in the U20 World Cup taking place next year.

Vietnam defeated Bahrain 1-0, qualifying for the U20 World Cup for the first time.

What happened to the Vietnam U19 team in this tournament is truly amazing and strange. Just exactly one month ago, when the Southeast Asian U19 tournament took place in Vietnam; Coach Hoang Anh Tuan's students showed a weak playing style; lacked determination and easily succumbed to strong teams such as losing 0-6 to Thailand in the group stage and losing 2-5 to Australia in the semi-finals. But few people expected that, just in the short time before the final round of the Asian U19 football tournament; Vietnam U19 had completely transformed and competed on par with representatives from developed football backgrounds on the continent.

The first thing that fans saw change in the team was the physical strength of the players. Obviously, the physical problem has been solved very well by coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his assistants when the U19 Vietnam players always played hard against tall opponents but no player showed any signs of fatigue. It is the improved physical foundation that helps the coach from Khanh Hoa have many options in building a playing style; and the students always dominate the match in the way the coaching staff proposed.

Second is tactics. Entering the continental tournament, the Vietnamese team was considered the weakest team in the group and the defensive counter-attacking style of play proposed by the coaching staff was understandable. Despite playing against most of the strong opponents in the group stage, namely North Korea, UAE, and Iraq, the Vietnamese players surprisingly passed the group stage unbeaten with a 2-1 victory over runner-up North Korea and a 1-1 draw with UAE and 0-0 with Iraq.

With what was shown in the group stage; the opponent of the U19 Vietnam team in the quarter-finals, Bahrain, thought that U19 Vietnam only had one strategy, which was to play counter-attack with a 4-2-3-1 formation; however, coach Hoang Anh Tuan surprised the opponent by letting striker Ha Duc Chinh sit on the bench and the whole team played with solidity in defense and the midfielder pair Tien Dung and Trong Dai actively followed and had effective long-range interceptions.

When the match progressed as the coaching staff had calculated; at minute 55 of the match, the attacking spearhead Ha Duc Chinh was sent onto the field and the team immediately switched to a 4-4-2 formation, with the striker pair Duc Chinh - Tran Thanh. This unexpected change caused the opponent Bahrain to be confused and most of the dangerous situations in the second half belonged to the U19 Vietnam players. And the magical moment came to the students of coach Hoang Anh Tuan, at minute 71, from a rebound by Minh Di, the striker who played for the first time in the U19 Vietnam team, Tran Thanh had a tap-in that defeated goalkeeper Halib, helping U19 Vietnam take the lead and this was also the only goal of the match.

Striker Tran Thanh (17) scored a historic goal for the Vietnam U19 team

The U19 Vietnam team has made history. A new milestone for the country's football. U19 Vietnam is writing a fairy tale in the modern era with its playing style and courageous spirit. U19 Vietnam's opponent in the semi-finals is the winner of the match between Japan and Tajikistan. With the dream of participating in the U20 World Cup becoming a reality, U19 Vietnam's continued miraculous story may not stop there!

Lam Tung