U23 Australia - U23 Vietnam: Predicting a tough match

Certainly, U23 Vietnam is the underdog and will have a tough match against head coach Milicic Ante and his team. Will coach Park Hang-seo make any significant changes in this second match?

Evaluate your competitors

Australia's style of play is quite simple, the midfielders Thomas Deng and Da Silva often have passes into the space between the central defenders for their teammates to race. InsideBlackwook is a striker for Adelaide United in the A-League, always ready to shoot. Blackwook has now scored twice against Syria goalkeeper Ibrahim.

Obviously, Australia's attack was quite simple, but U23 Syria still could not resist because Da Silva is a very creative midfielder, his "look at the vegetables, pick up the meat" style of cutting the ball, making the opponent's defense surprised. Head coach Milicic Ante has in his hands the students Popovic on the left wing, Kamau on the right wing with good speed, always putting goalkeeper Ibrahim's goal in a state of alarm.

Daniel De Silva (22) is Australia's most important player. Source: Socceroos

The strange thing is that although Australia has the advantage in terms of physique, they have not used many high crosses with force from the sidelines into the 16.5m area. The strength of Australian players is their physical strength. During training sessions, Australian players wear tracking devices, through which doctors and fitness coaches will evaluate their physical parameters through two special suitcases placed outside the field. From here, the players will have a suitable diet and exercise regimen. Head coach Milicic Ante has prepared quite carefully and is determined to win the Cup at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship.

Two layers of defense

Many people commented that all the tricks and tricks of U23 Vietnam were exposed in the match against U23 Korea. In fact, Coach Park Hang-seo still has some players on the field such as Van Duc, Ngoc Quang, Thai Quy...

Coach Park and his team practice hard in the cold weather of China. Photo: Internet

Mr. Park must know the strengths of his opponents and the weakest link of his students. It is not surprising that captain Xuan Truong is the first name mentioned, this conductor only touched the ball a total of 53 times in 90 minutes. As the organizer, Xuan Truong only made 46 passes, with a success rate of 54.3% - a very low rate.

Throughout the entire match, Xuan Truong only had one long-range shot that went over the bar, and no assists. Lackluster in attack and weak in defense, Truong only had one successful block and almost left the defensive role to Duc Huy - who had 4 successful blocks. Although a holding midfielder, Duc Huy also had a passing accuracy rate of 71.4% - much higher than Xuan Truong.

Obviously, if we use Xuan Truong when facing creative midfielder Da Silva, we will face many disadvantages. If we cannot control this conductor, goalkeeper Tien Dung's goal will always have to face striker Blackwook. We are at a disadvantage in terms of physique, physical strength and speed, so we really need a player who plays fiercely and is not afraid of collision to cause difficulties for Da Silva and Thomas Deng. If Xuan Truong is not available, the trio Quang Hai, Cong Phuong and Van Toan can completely create opportunities for each other. U23 Vietnam will set up a 2-layer defense to prevent the opponent's through balls.

Playing against strong opponents, Vietnamese fans believe in the leadership of coach Park Hang-seo and the confidence of Vietnamese players. Many players in the U23 Vietnam squad have faced Australian players many times at the U19 Southeast Asian tournament and the U19 Asian Qualifiers.

An Thanh