U23 Kuwait - unpredictable unknown at the U23 Asian finals
(Baonghean.vn) - Once a force in Asian football, the decline in recent years has caused Kuwaiti football to almost "disappear" in the continental arena.
At the 2022 AFC U23 Championship, Kuwait U23 also qualified for the finals in Uzbekistan. But this was a disappointing tournament for the former Asian champion team, as they lost all 3 matches and were eliminated from the group stage. Meanwhile, Vietnam U23 reached the quarter-finals and only lost to the champion Saudi Arabia U23 tournament.
However, in this year's tournament, the strength of U23 Kuwait cannot be underestimated. In the qualifying round, except for the victories against weak teams such as U23 East Timor and U23 Macau, coach Emílio Peixe's team excellently held the strong U23 Iraq to a draw. It was this 2-2 draw that helped U23 Kuwait win a ticket to the 2024 AFC U23 Championship finals as the best second-placed team.
The strength of U23 Kuwait is its diverse and quite modern attacking ability. They do not need too many touches to reach the opponent's goal. The most prominent among them are the duo of Salman Al-Awadhi and Ebrahim Kameel. These are all Kuwaiti national players and have contributed greatly to bringing U23 Kuwait to the final round of this year's tournament.
Especially striker Salman Al-Awadhi who scored 4 goals in the last qualifying round. The speed and technique of this striker is something that the defense of U23 Vietnam needs to pay attention to.
Unfortunately for U23 Kuwait, attacking midfielder Bandar Al-Salama will be absent due to injury. The absence of this player wearing the number 10 shirt will reduce the lethality in the Gulf team's attacks. Because Bandar Al-Salama possesses the ability to dribble skillfully and shoot from a distance very well.
In addition, the defensive ability of U23 Kuwait is not very good. Although there are many players in the defense, the team of coach Emílio Peixe is often disrupted by the opponent's underhand situations. The 2 goals conceded in the match against U23 Iraq are proof of these weaknesses of U23 Kuwait and the U23 Vietnam team can completely exploit them in the upcoming match.
At the recent Asian Games, U23 Kuwait suffered a crushing 9-0 defeat against U23 Korea. However, they also had commendable matches against U23 Thailand and U23 Bahrain when they drew 1-1. Therefore, U23 Kuwait will be an unpredictable unknown in Group D.
Hopefully, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team will have the best preparations to get a favorable result against U23 Kuwait on the opening day.
