What will Coach Park do to overcome the two "weak points" of U23 Vietnam?

Right from the first days of training, when there were not enough players to practice tactics, Mr. Park Hang-seo forced air combat exercises. After more than a year on the Vietnamese football field, he determined that this was a major weakness of Vietnamese football at both the club and many other national team levels, and there was no effective solution to overcome it.

Inherent Weakness

In the 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, Vietnam U23 was chosen as the host of Group K. Coach Park Hang-seo and his team will open the qualifiers by hosting Brunei at 8:00 p.m. on March 22. They will then meet Indonesia (8:00 p.m., March 24) and Thailand (8:00 p.m., March 26) and all 6 matches in this group will take place at My Dinh National Stadium.

As both opponents are hungry for victory, the upcoming matches are expected to be very tense in the U23 Asian qualifiers. Dead balls can make the difference and so the players are well trained in defensive strategies against high balls. Indonesian and Thai players are both physically fit and have an advantage in aerial duels.

U23 Vietnam players practice defending against high balls. Photo: VFF

Not to mention, while calling up the list of U23 Vietnam, Mr. Park considered choosing players who could play in the 2019 SEA Games. Practicing the skill of defending against high balls this time is also part of the calculation to conquer the upcoming SEA Games gold medal for U22 Vietnam.

Valuable experience

It is no coincidence that during the working session with the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien and the VFF, Mr. Park Hang-seo requested to add more sports doctors. Although he knew that both striker Tien Linh and central defender Dinh Trong were undergoing injury treatment, he still called them up to the Vietnam U23 team. He believed that when the team was concentrated, his "favorite" players would have better care and treatment conditions than when they were at the club.

In fact, the current U23 Vietnam team does not have many experienced strikers like Tien Linh. The striker of Becamex Binh Duong is still the biggest hope of the U23 Vietnam team in attack. Therefore, the Korean captain is very hopeful and wishes that the team's good doctors will help the "Domestic top scorer 2018" to soon reach the best physical condition. In the appearances at the AFF Cup 2018 and Asian Cup 2019, this striker has left quite a good impression.

Although the Korean coach knew that Tien Linh and center-back Dinh Trong were undergoing injury treatment, he still called them up to the Vietnam U23 team. Photo: VFF

Meanwhile, center back Dinh Trong has just returned to training after a long period of injury in Korea. But when both center backs Duy Manh and Bui Tien Dung are too old, Dinh Trong will be the steel shield in front of goalkeeper Tien Dung's goal in the upcoming tournament.

Knowing the players' weaknesses in playing experience, in addition to finding ways to quickly restore Tien Linh's physical strength, coach Park Hang-seo also has the task of reviving Duc Chinh's killer ability.

In terms of achievements and experience among the 7 strikers called up this time, the striker from Phu Tho is considered a "big name". He participated in the 2017 U20 World Cup, won the 2018 U23 Asian Cup runner-up with the Vietnam U23 team, and reached the semi-finals of the 2018 ASIAD with the Vietnam Olympic team; notably, Chinh "den" was a member of the Vietnam team that won the 2018 AFF Cup and reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 Asian Cup.

But with Duc Chinh's current form, coach Huynh Duc himself recently said that he must work very hard to get a starting position at the club. The Korean coach still called him up to the Vietnam U23 team. He believes that he will have measures to train and inspire this SHB.Da Nang striker to regain his scoring touch.