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

Right in 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.

Inherent weaknesses

In the 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, U23 Vietnam 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 the opponents all have the desire to win, the upcoming matches are predicted to be very tense in the U23 Asian qualifiers. At that time, dead ball situations can make the difference and so the players are trained very carefully in how to organize defense against high ball situations. Indonesian and Thai players all have very good physique and physical strength, which is an advantage in aerial disputes.

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 SEA Games 2019. Practicing skills to defend 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 gathered, 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 medical team 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 a good impression.

Although the Korean coach knew that Tien Linh and central defender 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 time off to recuperate 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 to be "famous". He participated in the U20 World Cup 2017, won the runner-up position of U23 Asia 2018 with U23 Vietnam, and reached the semi-finals of ASIAD 2018 with Olympic Vietnam; notably, Chinh "den" was a member of the Vietnam team that won the AFF Cup 2018 and reached the quarter-finals of Asian Cup 2019.

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 ways to train and inspire this SHB.Da Nang striker to regain his scoring touch.