What will Coach Park do to overcome the two "Achilles' heels" of the Vietnam U23 team?

Right from the first training days, when there weren't enough players to practice tactics, Coach Park Hang-seo focused on aerial combat drills. After more than a year on Vietnamese football pitches, he identified this as a major weakness of Vietnamese football at both club and national team levels, and he hadn't yet found an effective solution.

Inherent weakness

In the 2020 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, Vietnam U23 was chosen as the host of Group K. Coach Park Hang-seo's team opened the qualifiers with a match against Brunei at 8:00 PM on March 22nd. They then faced Indonesia (8:00 PM, March 24th) and Thailand (8:00 PM, March 26th), with all six matches in this group taking place at My Dinh National Stadium.

With both teams eager to win, the upcoming matches in the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers are expected to be very tense. Set pieces can make the difference, and therefore players are being thoroughly trained in defensive strategies against aerial balls. Indonesian and Thai players both possess excellent physique and stamina, giving them an advantage in aerial duels.

The U23 Vietnam players are practicing defending against aerial balls. Photo: VFF.

Moreover, while selecting the Vietnam U23 squad, Coach Park had already considered choosing players who could participate in the 2019 SEA Games. This training in defending against aerial balls is also part of the plan to win the gold medal at the upcoming SEA Games for the Vietnam U22 team.

Valuable experience

It's no coincidence that, during a meeting with the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien and the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), Coach Park Hang-seo requested the addition of sports doctors. Although he was well aware that both striker Tien Linh and central defender Dinh Trong were recovering from injuries, he still called them up to the Vietnam U23 team. He believed that when training with the national team, his "favorite" players would receive better care and treatment than they would at their clubs.

In reality, the current Vietnam U23 team doesn't have many experienced center forwards like Tien Linh. The Becamex Binh Duong striker remains the biggest hope for the Vietnam U23 attack. Therefore, the South Korean coach is very hopeful that the team's skilled medical staff will help the "2018 top domestic scorer" quickly reach his best physical condition. He left a good impression during his appearances in the 2018 AFF Cup and the 2019 Asian Cup.

Although the South Korean coach knew that both Tien Linh and center-back Dinh Trong were recovering from injuries, he still called them up to the Vietnam U23 team. Photo: VFF

Meanwhile, center-back Dinh Trong has also just returned to training after a long period of injury recovery in South Korea. But with both center-backs Duy Manh and Bui Tien Dung being overage, Dinh Trong will be the impenetrable shield in front of goalkeeper Tien Dung's goal in the upcoming tournament.

Knowing the players' lack of experience, in addition to finding ways to quickly restore Tien Linh and Dinh Trong's fitness, Coach Park Hang-seo also has the task of reviving Duc Chinh's killer instinct.

Speaking of achievements and playing experience among the 7 forwards called up this time, the striker from Phu Tho is considered a "veteran". He participated in the 2017 U20 World Cup, won the runner-up title with the Vietnam U23 team at the 2018 U23 Asian Championship, and reached the semi-finals of the 2018 ASIAD with the Vietnam Olympic team; notably, Chinh "the Black" was a member of the Vietnam national team that won the 2018 AFF Cup and reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 Asian Cup.

However, regarding Duc Chinh's current form, coach Huynh Duc recently stated that he needs to put in a lot of effort to earn a starting spot at his club. The South Korean coach still called him up to the Vietnam U23 team. He believes that he can find ways to train and inspire the SHB Da Nang striker to regain his goal-scoring form.