Reasons to believe U19 Vietnam will attend the World Cup

(Baonghean.vn) - The courageous draw with U19 Iraq in the last match helped the coach and his team reach the quarter-finals with the second place in Group B. Now, the "World Cup dream" is only 1 match away from U19 Vietnam. Anything can happen, because we have reasons to believe.

1.In the upcoming quarter-finals, the U19 Vietnam players will meet the host team U19 Bahrain. This is a huge obstacle for coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team to realize their dream of participating in the U20 World Cup held in Korea 2017. However, many people feel lucky because the opponent of U19 Vietnam is a representative from West Asia.

The Vietnamese football teams can easily lose to Thailand or teams from Northeast Asia, but when facing representatives from West Asia, our players at all levels compete equally, even slightly better. In contrast, 9 years ago at the 2007 Asian Cup Finals held in 4 countries: Vietnam - Thailand - Indonesia - Malaysia. In that tournament, Vietnam was in the same group with the defending champion Japan and 2 teams from the West Asia region, Qatar and UAE.

Before the tournament took place, experts and fans all said that coach Alfred Riedl and his team did not have much chance to pass the group stage even though they played at home. However, what the Vietnamese team did surprised everyone when Le Cong Vinh and his teammates defeated UAE with a score of 2-0 on the opening day, then drew with Qatar 1-1, before losing to Japan with a score of 1-4. Winning 4 points after 3 matches to join the "land of the rising sun" team in advancing to the knockout round.

Or at the 17th Asiad in 2014, the Vietnam Olympic team created an "earthquake" in Korea after coach Miura's students defeated the Iran Olympic team with a score of 4-1. This victory helped the young Vietnamese players to participate in the knockout round of a continental tournament for the first time. And most recently, the 2-0 victory of the Vietnam team against the team present in the final qualifying round of the 2018 World Cup in Asia, Syria. Those statistics partly reflect that meeting representatives from West Asia is a "good fate" for Vietnamese football. Therefore, the fact that U19 Vietnam will meet host U19 Bahrain in the quarter-finals is truly a lucky chance for Nguyen Trong Dai and his teammates.

2.Although they won the top spot with 6 points, U19 Bahrain is not highly rated. The proof is that they had to wait until the last match against the team that was officially eliminated, U19 Thailand, for the home team to officially have a ticket to the quarter-finals. Observing U19 Bahrain playing at the finals this time, it can be affirmed that, without the home field advantage, this team would hardly be able to get past the group stage. In addition, U19 Bahrain's playing style is quite monotonous, like "using flesh to suppress people" like most other teams in the West Asia region. In terms of strength and playing style, U19 Bahrain is only equivalent to UAE, the team that coach Hoang Anh Tuan's students held to a draw in the second match of the group stage.

Every team that wants to go deep in the tournament cannot wait forever for luck. Strength is still the most important factor to achieve success. At the finals this time, U19 Vietnam has proven its ability with very impressive matches. The defense is the foundation for the success of U19 Vietnam in Bahrain. With only 2 goals conceded in the last 3 matches, including 1 goal from the penalty spot (in the 1-1 draw with UAE) and the remaining goal when the result was already decided (in extra time when U19 Vietnam was leading U19 DPRK 2-0), it partly proves the good defensive ability of Bui Tien Dung and his teammates.

More notably, in the match against U19 UAE, the U19 Vietnam players had to play with only 10 players on the field after Nguyen Trong Dai was sent off in the 57th minute. In the remaining 30 minutes of the match, coach Hoang Anh Tuan's students stood firm against the great pressure from the opponent. With such performances, U19 Vietnam was enough to make the U19 Bahrain strikers harmless.

It is not easy to overcome the home team in 90 minutes, but the U19 Vietnam players can drag the match into a penalty shootout full of luck.

If we can do that, the 2017 U20 World Cup will become a reality. Who knows, maybe with the “fate” with the West Asian representatives, combined with a reasonable strategy, U19 Vietnam will create the biggest surprise of this year’s tournament.

Tram Uyen