Coach Park Hang-seo's 'magic' against the Thais

At the same time, he said, "I understand them and expect them to play by what they have."

Coach Polking of U23 Thailand, as usual, assessed U23 Vietnam as the strongest team in the tournament, with many advantages and his team is ready to play as the "underdog" in this important match?

Meanwhile, experts who understand the inside story of Thai football, following the process from the group stage to the semi-finals, suggest that U23 Thailand is weak in the left back position, showing signs of psychological instability, so if they know how to "attack" those weaknesses, they will surely succeed? The team with the strongest attack in the tournament (13 goals until the semi-finals) facing the team with the strongest defense in the tournament - not conceding a goal until the semi-finals, is indeed always very difficult to predict or confirm anything?

Many opportunities for the Vietnam U23 team in the first half. Photo courtesy of Hai Hoang

The reality of the 90 minutes at My Dinh Stadium on the evening of May 22 showed that things were not as simple as predicted and calculated publicly. After about 10 minutes of being unsteady, passing the ball incorrectly leading to being pressured, U23 Thailand returned to being the team that completely took control of the game and played "the upper hand" until about the 75th minute of the match. U23 Thailand played slowly, passing the ball continuously to find space in the middle and finish. All attacks originated from Ben David, when this player held the ball very uncomfortably, attracting the opponent's defense, then suddenly passed the ball to his teammates as he did in the semi-final match against U23 Indonesia and was very successful. The left wing of U23 Thailand received maximum attention with the support of the wingers, so even if U23 Vietnam wanted to, they could not concentrate firepower on this wing as someone had suggested?

Meanwhile, when being pressured, U23 Vietnam immediately returned to their familiar defensive and counter-attacking style, absolutely not revealing any gaps for the opponent to easily exploit. The first half was still a stalemate for both teams, and then from the beginning of the second half, each side replaced a striker, but Mr. Park Hang-seo showed himself to be more dangerous than the other side.

Nham Manh Dung headed the goal for U23 Vietnam. Photo: Internet

That was the appearance of striker Manh Dung, who has good physique and fitness, playing versatilely in both the central defender and striker positions. Manh Dung was required to play wide, higher than his senior Tien Linh to attract the attention of the opposing defenders, while confidently holding the ball to distribute to the surrounding satellites. Engrossed in holding the ball for up to 60% of the time, running a lot to find space, when U23 Thailand gradually revealed their fatigue and helplessness in front of the opponent's defensive wall, it was also the time when Mr. Park Hang-seo urged his students to attack, with punches from the two wings of Van Do and Tuan Tai.

And the one who made the U23 Thai defense unsteady, unable to stop by his spectacular acceleration on both wings and the center was the striker who entered the field in the second half, Manh Dung. A break through the right wing and a quick pass inside to his senior Tien Linh but was blocked was one of those signs. In the 83rd minute, Tien Linh retreated to the middle of the field, suddenly had an empty ball and passed it to the left to full-back Tuan Tai, so that this passer placed the ball in the right direction, jumped high and shook his head spectacularly, sending the ball into the top corner of the goal of veteran goalkeeper Kawin, scoring a beautiful goal for the host U23 Vietnam, defeating all the calculations of Mr. Polking and his team in this match, opening a "new era" ofU23 VietnamAfter a period of 4 consecutive finals, only finishing second to Thailand as a default in the SEA Games.

To achieve that stunning goal, obviously, against a “perfect opponent” like U23 Thailand, Mr. Park Hang-seo had carefully prepared his team and physical strength for the long-term tough matches, along with the “magic” he applied depending on the development of the match.

The victory belonged to the U23 Vietnam team, they won the SEA Games men's football gold medal, to the admiration of their opponents. Photo courtesy of Hai Hoang

The attacking full-back pair is still the trump card of Mr. Park Hang-seo. When Van Hau - Trong Hoang were no longer in U23, the coach persistently searched and trained to have the pair Van Do - Van Xuan, then when Van Xuan was injured, he immediately had a completely new person, Tuan Tai, who plays both left center back and attacking left full-back as seen. In just a short time, the unknown Tuan Tai, from being only called up to supplement U23 Vietnam at the U23 Southeast Asia Championship, has grown up like Phu Dong, was chosen among the last 20 players, was the main player in the 2 most important matches against U23 Indonesia and U23 Thailand and is becoming the best creator in the 2 decisive victories in the 2 final matches, finishing off the Thais of U23 Vietnam.

A new character, central defender Tien Long, also went from doubt to complete confidence in this SEA Games when he joined Viet Anh - Thanh Binh to create a trio of central defenders who did not concede any goals throughout the tournament. The difficult thing for Mr. Park Hang-seo was choosing personnel for the attack when there was a long period of not scoring and he wisely made the right choice, to create opportunities for Tien Linh, Van Tung and especially Manh Dung to shine at the right time, when most needed. When the opponent focused on marking the senior Tien Linh, it was also an opportunity for the juniors to take turns to shine, that is the "magic" in the hands of Mr. Park Hang-seo that has made many opponents regret, including the perfect opponent Thailand./.

Chau Phu