U22 Vietnam: The fear of 'trying to call, but it doesn't work'

(Baonghean.vn) - In 10 days in Korea, U22 Vietnam had 2 practice matches with an intensity "a little heavier than a walk". However, there were still goals conceded, making people doubt the ability of the defense when coming to Korea.SEA Games 29.

Cong Phuong and his teammates had two resounding victories in terms of scores (winning Mokpo 4-1 and Busan 6-1), but in terms of expertise, this was not very effective. At the time, coach Huu Thang and his team needed a really strong opponent, playing fiercely to expose their "weak points" and quickly correct their mistakes.

The reality on the field shows that both Mokpo Club and Busan Club are not the ideal team. Partly because the level of these two Korean third division teams is limited, and partly because the other team proactively gave up the field for us to freely show off and score goals.

Keep making mistakes

The U22 Vietnam defense in the starting lineup against FC Busan, including Phi Minh Long - Van Khanh - Van Hau - Tien Dung - Van Thanh, are considered the best players at the moment. Perhaps coach Huu Thang and the coaching staff determined that the "blue team" FC Busan is of better quality than the 3rd division team Mokpo City FC before.

They played very badly but still scored the opening goal thanks to the central defenders Van Khanh and Tien Dung who let the opponent's striker receive the ball from a simple pass and scored close to the goal. The goal lost to Mokpo City from the penalty spot also showed that weak opponents like Timor Leste, Cambodia, and the Philippines can still score against our team.

The attack line led by Cong Phuong has scored 24 goals after 6 matches. Photo: Tung Le

U22 had a big win 6-1 against a very weak opponent, even the equalizer 1-1 situation where the goalkeeper of the opposing team FC Busan let the ball slip into the net doesn't say anything.

Two matches on foreign soil with 10 goals are not worth much, but 2 goals conceded is a big problem. Against such a bad opponent, of course U22 Vietnam holds the ball most of the time, which means the defense is not challenged, not attacked much but still concedes goals. That is the worry!

Thus, before conquering SEA Games 29, Coach Huu Thang's team has 6 matches, since the U23 Asia qualifiers, except for the loss to U23 Korea, the other 5 matches were against opponents who were not capable enough to assess the defense's ability.

In those 6 easy matches, the offense scored 24 goals but the defense conceded 5 goals, all due to defensive errors rather than sharp attacks from the opponent. Coach Huu Thang came to Malaysia with a worry: The U22 Vietnam defense had made mistakes against all opponents, even small teams.

Kick and correct mistakes

In theory, no coach would dare to play the “defensive handicap” style when thinking about winning the SEA Games. The strength of U22 Vietnam is not enough to tear apart all the defenses of Southeast Asian teams, playing the style of scoring 1 more goal than the opponent to win.

But coach Huu Thang still has the first 3 matches of the group stage to play, patch up and adjust the defense before meeting Indonesia and Thailand, quite strong opponents and direct competitors.

The defense line still leaves worries for the U22 Vietnam coaching staff. Photo: Tung Le

Until now, the question: Why there is no "blue team" of high class, playing fiercely to detect the weaknesses of the U22 Vietnam team is still a secret. The Korean Football Federation is very friendly with the VFF, so it is clear that it is not for nothing that the K-League All-Stars, Mokpo, and Busan teams only play at a moderate level like that.

Will the easy victories over opponents from Timor Leste to Korean football representatives overwhelm our players when they meet real opponents like Thailand and Indonesia at the 29th SEA Games?

An interesting fact that our Nghe An Newspaper reporters have collected is that, up to now, when winning the Southeast Asian championship - AFF Cup 2008, Coach Calisto and his team played 10 friendly matches before the tournament without winning any. The fear of "trying to shout, burning out" is gradually appearing, although no Vietnamese fan wants that.

AT