U20 Vietnam: Impressive performance of Quoc Viet and Van Truong

But the match, especially in the first half, showed that U20 Qatar is not a team that can be easily intimidated, because of its physical foundation, physical strength, technique and will to take revenge after the first match. This team almost completely pressed U20 Vietnam, continuously exploited the left wing of U20 Vietnam and only lost to the resilience and luck of Van Binh and his teammates, then bitterly accepted a goal from an exemplary counterattack by Van Truong - Quoc Viet in the last minute of extra time...

Still with the same starting lineup as the opening match, but Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan made an important change in the match against Qatar. That is to push the "hero" Quoc Viet to play the highest attack line and pull Van Truong back to play as a central midfielder, to act as a bridge for the fastest transition, even allowing this young player to move up as an attacking midfielder when necessary. When Quoc Viet is no longer "hidden" and appears at the right time like before, of course the opponent will stick to him without leaving a step. Quoc Viet is inherently wide-ranging, his fast starting speed will make the opponent's defense work hard to catch up. At that time, Van Truong, with his inherent physique, physical strength and dexterity, will help reinforce the midfield to limit the opponent's attack, and quickly turn the situation from defense to counterattack.

Before the goal, from Van Truong's creative cross-field pass to Quoc Viet to accelerate, handle the ball to his right foot to unleash a devastating shot in the 45+1 minute, U20 Vietnam had organized counter-attacks many times as a hidden signal before the opponent's continuous and fierce attacks. In other words, the opponent was "intoxicated" with the right wing moves, penetrating deep down to the sideline and then passing up for the second line to run up and shoot, but not once was successful. Van Binh's legs, not just his "plastic" hands, saved U20 Vietnam. Van Binh's brilliant aerial combats and reasonable punches to block the ball saved many situations that seemed to be a sure loss. Many times Nguyen Hoang or Duc Anh were passed by the opponent, but the last blocker Van Binh, or the opponent's impatience, prevented the U20 net from shaking, except for the controversial penalty situation at the end of the second half...

It seemed that the difficult victory of U20 Vietnam was lost due to a not-so-serious error by Duc Anh leading to the equalizer, but once again the image of the 2008 AFF Cup final second leg at My Dinh Stadium appeared, exciting the hearts of the people. Van Truong had previously had a situation of fighting left and right, kicking the ball just wide of the post, then this time, a Cong Vinh-style header from before scored an extremely important golden goal for U20 Vietnam. It was a second half full of patience, fighting spirit and victory, even though the young army was doused with cold water by the referee, even though they were repeatedly wrongly judged, forced to judge, and many fouls that they should have been awarded were overlooked, even penalties...

Thus, the expectations of experts and fans for young talents Quoc Viet, Van Truong... have been rewarded. The silent contributions of Van Khang, Nguyen Hoang, Van Binh, Duc Viet... are also worth noting. With 2 wins, U20 Vietnam is sure to reach the quarter-finals. If they can draw with Iran, they will have the top spot in the group and hope for the semi-finals, which means a ticket to the U20 World Cup, something that Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan and the generation of Hoang Duc and Quang Hai have done before. Or at least, if U20 loses to Iran, they will still have the second place in the group to continue competing, although things will be more difficult when meeting another opponent for the top spot in the group.

One thing that needs to be said is that young stars who played well in V-League such as Vi Hao, Xuan Tien or Nam Hai, for unknown reasons, did not appear much, even absent in the last 2 wins. While Van Khang has only played a few minutes in V-League, Van Truong has not had any minutes, Quoc Viet is also mainly a reserve, but he played better than expected, and is a real hero? To see, in football, the coaching talent and the ability to see the players of the coaches play a decisive role, even though the matches and tournaments are not the same? Hopefully, this U20 generation will achieve important steps in their careers and V-League coaches always have a full and correct view of young talents to together bring V-League to a new level in all aspects. Even Mr. P.Troussier cannot ignore the performances of U20 Vietnam to soon have a specific "plan" for this team for the steps of U23 and the Vietnam National Team in the extremely important journey towards the upcoming World Cup./.