U23 Vietnam seen from a friendly match

(Baonghean.vn) - Both Coach Park Hang Seo and Coach Kim Do Hoon have just shown Vietnamese experts what the Korean football style is. A match where both sides won, stemming from the high professionalism of a leading football team in the continent.

Being in the same group at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship, in principle, U23 Vietnam will not play a friendly match with U23 Korea. Mr. Park's choice of Ulsan Hyundai as his team has many purposes. On the other hand, the Korean Football Federation also needs to see how their opponents are doing.

Blue Army Assessment

Ulsan Hyundai Club - the team that just won the FA Cup of Korea, ranked 4th in the K-League Classic (Korean First Division). Among them, defender Kang Min Soo played for the Korean national team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Defender Jeong Dong Ho played for the national team at the 2015 East Asian Championship.

In addition, this team also owns many talented young faces such as striker Shuh Myeong (Korean U.19 team competing in the 2014 U.19 Asian Championship), midfielder Lee Sang Heon (Korean U.20 team participating in the 2017 U.20 World Cup), midfielder Kim Geon Ung (Korean U.19 team competing in the 2015 U.19 Asian Championship), striker Kim Seung Jun (Korean U.22 team competing in the 2015 King's Cup and Korean U.23 team competing in the 2016 U.23 Asian Championship).

Mr. Park had an important test match. Photo: AT

Most importantly, head coach Kim Do Hoon was once Mr. Park's student, a prerequisite for Mr. Park to test the squad. Mr. Kim will adjust the tempo of the match and the style of play of his team so that the coach can test the playing style of U23 Vietnam.

The quality and experience of Ulsan Hyundai players allows them to do that in a subtle way, without stifling the home team's play. If they need to play fast, Ulsan Hyundai players will play fast, if they need to cut in, they will cut in... exactly according to the requirements of the pitch script, exactly according to Mr. Park's "orders".

Defensive concerns

In attack, Mr. Park has quite a lot of confidence in the pair Quang Hai and Cong Phuong and he needs to find a third person in the two names Van Toan and Hong Duy. Starting with a 4-5-1 formation, U.23 Vietnam switched to playing with 4 defenders: Duc Huy playing right back, the central defender pair Van Khanh - Dinh Trong and Van Thanh playing in the left back position.

Mr. Park saw that the 3-defender formation did not seem to be suitable for the players in his hand, so Duc Huy was also given a chance to try his hand in a new position, giving way to Tien Dung.

U23 Vietnam's defense is still a concern. Photo: AT

U.23 Vietnam played with 3 central midfielders, in which Thai Quy and Tien Dung, because of their good blocking and defending abilities, played a little further back than Xuan Truong. On the away team's side, Seung Jun, Kyu Baek, Dong Ho, and Su An fought fiercely, forcing the home team's 5-man midfield deep. They only needed to increase the pressure in the first few minutes of the match to force the U23 Vietnam defense to reveal mistakes.

Van Khanh made an unnecessary foul leading to a penalty when the opponent dribbled into the dead corner. Then, he just needed to retreat deep, "lure" Van Thanh up high, and with a long pass to In Sung to race, the opposing team had the second goal.

With 2 early goals, Ulsan Hyundai also substituted young players into the field, slowing down the pace of the match. This was the time they wanted to give the home team a chance to test their attack and replace their defense with other players.

To test the attack, Mr. Park decided to send the trio Quang Hai - Cong Phuong - Van Toan of U23 Vietnam to play side by side, and indeed, the game situation improved a lot. Of course, a part of the Korean midfield gave the home team space, and Myeong Won and Sang Heon did not play as harshly as at the beginning of the match. If you look closely, at the K-League Classic, Ulsan Hyundai players did not mark their players loosely like the two situations in which they conceded goals at Hang Day Stadium.

At the end of the match, needing a goal, Kang Min Soo was sent onto the field, the other team switched to high kicks. From the free kick situation, although there were more defenders, Van Hau was a tall player assigned to play as a center back, we still lost 2-3. The TV camera zoomed in, Mr. Kim just smiled slightly!

An emotional match for the audience, a beautiful score, and dedicated play from both sides. More importantly, Mr. Park and his team did exactly what they wanted in a friendly match.

AT