U23 Australia coach heavily criticized for being subjective against U23 Vietnam

Coach Ante Milicic highly appreciated U23 Vietnam before the match but was subjective when entering the match. Photo: Internet

Commenting on the first 45 minutes, football expert Vu Manh Hai said: "In my opinion, we can be satisfied with the first half, the game and the personnel arrangement are very good. There was even a time when U23 Vietnam played with a 5-2-3 formation. There were 5 defensive players but they did not stand in a horizontal line, Van Thanh and Van Hau were a bit high.

The two players playing on the right wing, Cong Phuong and Quang Hai, also tried to retreat to defend, so we did not give U23 Australia a chance to cross the ball easily. If anything, the coordination was not sharp and the crosses were relatively low."

In addition, Mr. Vu Manh Hai added: “I think with such a situation, we have to defend. How to create opportunities for lightning counterattacks, the players have to be closer together in the second half, U23 Vietnam has done it. Coach Park Hang Seo's mark in this match is very big, he has a different strategy, the spearhead attack is on the right side but the passer is from the left wing. Cong Phuong and Quang Hai are the ones who make the passes.

At the moment, it is very difficult to change something without putting Van Toan on the field to create a breakthrough. And coach Park Hang Seo has done the same. Midfielder Quang Hai is the "god of fortune" of the team, there is no more praise for him".

Midfielder Quang Hai's tears of happiness after the victory over U23 Australia while his teammates were celebrating. Photo: Tuan Huu

This is also the opinion of football expert Nguyen Thanh Vinh. The former SLNA head coach commented: “In my opinion, Australia made a mistake by not hitting the ball high from the start. If they chose to play that way, they would have made the U23 Vietnam defense more tired. Instead, the Australian players used too many small group combinations, which is not their forte.

When forced to play defensive counter-attacks, we can see how tight the U23 Vietnam team is in defense. I think coach Park Hang Seo understands his opponents better than the Australian coach understands U23 Vietnam. In this match, U23 Vietnam forced their opponents to play our way, not to follow their style of play.

Coach Park Hang Seo's players are not in a hurry, enough to make the opponent impatient, and are very proactive in counter-attacking. What we fear most is high balls and headers, but they do not do it, and the creativity in coordination of U23 Australia is not there."

It can be said that coach Ante Milicic underestimated U23 Vietnam or overestimated us but was somewhat subjective, this coach only arranged 9/11 official players on the field. Of which, 6 players are playing in Europe, but the new tactic was the mistake of this coach.

It was also because of the loss to U23 Vietnam that on Facebook, an Australian U17 player after the match against U23 Vietnam shared about the home team's defeat: "Coach Ante Milicic will have to pay the price once he returns home for this silly arrogance. This is a disgrace to Australian football. But we cannot help but praise the Vietnamese players for playing so well. The ability to regulate and read the game of your coach is on another level"./.