The Japanese strategist is confident that his players will create many opportunities and score goals in the match against U23 Australia on the evening of January 17.

*The match takes place at 20:30 (Hanoi time)

Both U23 Vietnam and U23 Australia were empty-handed in their opening matches, so they needed to get points to keep their slim hopes of advancing. Therefore, the nature of this match is very important. Coach Toshoya Miura has been smiling at his players these past few days, as if he wanted to breathe new life into the team, helping his players forget the defeat against U23 Jordan to focus on this "life and death" battle.

“We are in dire need of points after coming away empty-handed in the first match,” coach Miura told VnExpress. “In the first match, U23 Vietnam played without fighting spirit and were unable to impose their style of play on their opponents. Therefore, we had few opportunities and few goals.”

Coach Miura is encouraging his players after the loss to U23 Jordan. Photo: Duc Dong.

Preparing for this match, Coach Miura said there will be many personnel changes. In addition, in recent training sessions, he also let the players deploy the ball in a narrow area, taking advantage of fast and technical play instead of long passes and high balls like before. "We are determined to improve our playing style to be better than the previous match. Certainly, U23 Vietnam will create more opportunities and I believe we will score a goal against U23 Australia," the Japanese captain confidently said.

In addition to studying the video of U23 Australia, Miura was also present at the stadium to watch the young players of the kangaroo country play in the 0-1 loss to U23 UAE. “It was a 50-50 match but unfortunately U23 Australia conceded an own goal at the end of the match. They are a team with very good physique and fitness and have some players playing in Europe. Therefore, they are strong opponents and we need to play with concentration and take advantage of opportunities to get points.”

Cong Phuong has a knack for scoring against the Australian youth team. Photo: Duc Dong.

Over the past two years, the young players Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, Xuan Truong... have faced young Australian players twice. That was when U19 Vietnam defeated U19 Australia 5-1 in the 2013 U19 Asian qualifiers in Malaysia. Then, when they met again in the 2014 U19 Southeast Asian tournament, U19 Vietnam once again made U19 Australia taste the bitter fruit at My Dinh with a score of 1-0. In those two confrontations, Cong Phuong scored three goals, Van Toan scored one goal.

In addition to the talent of the two strikers mentioned above, Dong Trieu, Duy Manh, Hong Duy, Tien Dung, Xuan Truong, Tuan Anh… are also confident and brave when facing tall players from Australia. Therefore, in this afternoon’s match, Coach Miura will prioritize using technical players to maintain the game and look for opportunities.

Expected lineup

U23 Vietnam: TM Van Tien, Manh Hung, Dong Trieu, Tien Dung, Tan Tai, Hong Duy, Tuan Anh, Xuan Truong, Van Toan, Cong Phuong, Thanh Binh.

U23 Australia: TM Jack Duncan, Giancarlo Gallifuoco, James Donachie, Joshua Brillante, Andrew Hoole, Ryan Edwards, Jamie Maclaren, Connor Pain, Scott Galloway, Steven Ugarkovic, Alexander Gersbach.

Hong Duy, Tuan Anh, Dong Trieu are the nemesis of young Australian players. Photo: Giang Huy.

According to VNE