Vietnam Olympics: Small goals, big playground

The team will meet Mongolia, Iran and Saudi Arabia in the group stage and the modest goal is to strive to overcome this round, although deep down, everyone hopes that the young and ambitious team will go further in the continental playground.

Remember before, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan was assigned to lead U23 Vietnam to defend the throne at the U23 Southeast Asia Championship with the main members being the U20 generation and they completed the task excellently. This time, still with the main force being the U20 generation, plus 2 players over 23 years old, Sy Huy and Manh Dung, the Olympic Vietnam team was "ceded" by Mr. Philippe Troussier to Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan to take the helm, certainly cannot do anything special against opponents who are superior in all aspects, but still hope that this "big playground" will help the young factors quickly mature when rubbing, learning from real combat, from the level of the opponents.

Before announcing the list of players, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan did not forget to reaffirm the very high requirements for his students to be loyal to the "attacking ball control" style of play that Mr. Troussier is building in the Vietnamese football teams in the process of moving towards the continent. Of course, the young coach cannot say anything different from the "track" set for him for many months now, especially the 2 coaching campaigns that he has and will experience. But then, reality will show that the motto set is one thing, but the situation on the field against opponents is completely different.

In the U23 Southeast Asia Championship, U23 Malaysia or U23 Indonesia sometimes let U23 Vietnam take control of the game, but it was clear that they were always waiting to launch a counterattack to finish off their opponents. Coach Troussier himself was helpless with U23 Indonesia's strong throw-in situations to score goals, and then the bitter counterattack situation in the semi-final when they were unexpectedly defeated in extra time with a score of 2-3. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan later also encountered the throw-in situations that "sowed sorrow" from U23 Indonesia for the host U23 Thailand and even U23 Vietnam more than a couple of times in the final match. But fortunately and very well, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan's students learned from experience, knew how to neutralize this tactic, causing U23 Indonesia to lose a very annoying "trump card" and then failed in the 11m penalty shootout, so that they were still bitter, angry, leading to complaints, demands...

So in the upcoming group stage, Vietnam Olympic will likely take the initiative to play "attacking ball control" against Mongolia Olympic - an opponent of equal strength. Meanwhile, the Olympic opponents Iran or Saudi Arabia with superior physique and physical strength will certainly be the ones playing "attacking ball control" against Vietnam Olympic. Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan believes that Vietnam Olympic will try their best to carry out the method that the French coach requires, because the deepest goal is not to win by all means at the moment, but the path of training and maturity of young factors to move towards being suitable for the playing style of the Vietnam Team for a higher, further goal that is being set.

This also means that the Vietnam Olympic team is not "targeted" or targeted, they should just play football confidently and comfortably as possible, winning or losing is not the most important thing. And therefore, who knows, from this very request, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, no matter what he says, will set a goal for himself and his students, by striving to pass the group stage, and from there, every match will be a final. Who among the U23 Vietnam team in Changzhou "dreamed" of going from one victory to another, and they still did it?

With Vietnamese football in the process of upgrading, the French coach is being assigned to decide everything, big and small, but don't say that the Vietnamese coaches have no role, can't do anything? Furthermore, some players who were not trusted by coach Troussier in the U23 Asian Qualifiers but "only" had the duty at the Vietnam Olympic Team, certainly will not back down in any situation to prove their ability and ASIAD 2023 is the best opportunity for them to indirectly prove to Mr. Troussier, such as Xuan Tien, Nam Hai, Duc Viet, Nguyen Hoang... for example. Those quiet motivations of the coach and players of the Vietnam Olympic Team will make the upcoming race interesting and unpredictable because of that normal and special reason.

ASIAD 2023 is a continental playground, a big playground, but the Vietnamese Olympic Team has set a "small goal" which is inevitable, because of the long-term, new vision that Vietnamese football is setting, an opportunity for young talents to strive and mature. That is also a fundamental step, a long-term calculation of Vietnamese football, which needs to be supported, encouraged and promoted towards the "sweet fruit seasons" in the future./.