Decoding the failure of U23 Vietnam '2020 version'
(Baonghean.vn) - First of all, it must be affirmed that the group stage results accurately reflect the level of the 4 teams and that U23 Vietnam leaving at the bottom of Group D is not a big deal. In many tournaments, even the defending champion had to say goodbye early.
First of all, it must be affirmed that the position of Vietnamese football has only stopped at "initial success at the regional level" and that competing against the continent, whether at the youth level or the national team, is still more fortunate than strong. Mr. Park was not wrong when he commented: "I can only bring Vietnamese football to the top of the region, but if I want to approach the continent, it must be left to others."
Not strong enough to be the "top dog"
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| Mr. Park has not run out of tricks yet, but there is no source of quality young players to supplement. Photo: AT |
To evaluate the level of a football nation, that achievement must be repeated many times, not just a gold medal at the AFF Cup or SEA Games. Remember, Thailand has won 15 out of 30 SEA Games but still struggled to make it to the U23 Asian Cup finals for the first time.
About the expertise of U23 Vietnam "version"2020” was rated not as good as his seniors 2 years ago. As the runner-up, he had to play an aggressive attack, while the opponent was cautious in defense, causing Quang Hai and his teammates to be confused, leading to defeat.
The fact that the 3 strongest teams of the U23 Asian Cup will have tickets to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics makes the competition of this tournament more fierce than 2 years ago. This makes both U23 Japan and U23 Qatar have to pack their bags and go home.
U23 Vietnam has been off target. The need to focus on winning the SEA Games 30 gold medal has caused players Tien Linh, Duc Chinh, Hoang Duc... to lose their form in Thailand. The risk of Quang Hai being overloaded has been warned, but Mr. Park has no quality reserve players left so he has to "force it".
The perspectives of professional coaches Akira Nishino and Park Hang-seo are both aimed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the world's most prestigious tournament. But when we were so hungry for the SEA Games 30 gold medal, the Korean coach had to change his goal, so it's hard to blame Mr. Park for the failure in Thailand.
In the match against U23 North Korea, goalkeeper Bui Tien Dung made some fatal mistakes that caused us to leave the tournament in a rather dull way. But the incident is just a representative image of Vietnamese football today: lacking the basic foundation to reach a higher level.
In a game like that, if it wasn’t Tien Dung, Bao Toan or Dinh Trong, there would have been another player who made a mistake. However, within 6 months, he made 3 identical elementary mistakes from high ball situations, without a good coach to guide him, it would be difficult for goalkeeper Tien Dung to grow.
Lack of additional resources
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| In 2019, after 10 short and long training sessions, honing every movement and step, he selected 23 players to bring to Thailand. Photo: AFC |
Over the years, the youth training centers of V.League clubs have only introduced that many faces, causing players like Quang Hai to have to play an average of 60 matches/year before "running out of battery" is predicted. Even in Thailand, each professional club has 2-3 youth training centers to provide players but there are still times when there is a shortage of players, so it is understandable that Vietnamese football is "running out of resources".
It is time for VFF to think about developing community football and school football, which other football teams have been doing. VFF, not Mr. Thang or Mr. Duc, should roll up their sleeves to do student football. VFF must have a say in planning football fields and developing street football and amateur football.
Mr. Park has not run out of tricks, but he is “out of stock”. In the past year, filtering from more than 20 teams, he only had a list of about 80 young players. After 10 short and long training sessions, honing each movement and step, he narrowed down 23 players to bring to Thailand. Turning vertically and horizontally, moving from left to right, pushing up and down, in the end, after 270 minutes, his students only scored 1 goal. The end.
No one can stop us from dreaming of the 2026 World Cup, no one has the right to restrain us when we praise Quang Hai, Tien Dung... but to have stable results, in addition to having a good coach, the team of players must be strong. In the past, has anyone "made a mess with little flour"?
