U23 Vietnam: Better safe than sorry
(Baonghean.vn) - Being in the group (group D) with the presence of U23 Uzbekistan, U23 Kuwait and U23 Malaysia, the opportunity to win 1 of 2 tickets to play in the quarter-finals of Hoang Anh Tuan and his team is quite clear.
Currently, according to experts, apart from U23 Uzbekistan, the other two opponents are not really formidable.
In theory, the first ticket of Group D will be difficult to escape from the hands of U23 Uzbekistan, a young army from the continent's leading football development. Thus, the second ticket will be a competition between U23 Vietnam, U23 Kuwait and U23 Malaysia. The balance of power, "it is not known which cat will bite which mouse".
It is true that U23 Kuwait and U23 Malaysia have just experienced disappointing matches, especially the young team from the West Asian region with a 0-9 defeat against U23 Korea in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Games. However, after the humiliating defeat above, U23 Kuwait drew with U23 Bahrain and U23 Thailand with the same score of 1-1.
Based on the list of 25 players that the Kuwait Football Federation registered with the Organizing Committee of the U23 Asian Cup, it can be seen that there are quite a few new faces. Specifically, only nearly half of the squad that participated in the 2023 Asian Games was retained by coach Emilio Peixe. U23 Kuwait is an interesting unknown.
Meanwhile, U23 Malaysia is showing remarkable progress. Although they only qualified for the 2024 AFC U23 Championship thanks to a wildcard ticket, the strength of U23 Malaysia cannot be underestimated. Coach Juan Torres Garrido and his team were the first to arrive in Qatar to prepare for the tournament.
At the venue that hosted the 2022 World Cup, U23 Malaysia had 2 friendly matches with U23 China (lost 1-2) and U23 Qatar (lost 0-1). Overall, U23 Malaysia has made very serious preparations for the 2024 AFC U23 Championship, the tournament that will decide the tickets to participate in men's football at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Besides the unpredictability of the opponents, U23 Vietnam is also facing many difficulties of its own, especially personnel issues. Injuries have "robbed" U23 Vietnam of many excellent faces such as Vo Minh Trong, Phan Tuan Tai, Le Van Do, Nguyen Thanh Nhan...
If they do not play with more than 100% ability and 200% determination, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team will not be able to qualify for the quarter-finals. Do not forget that since the 2018 AFC U23 Championship, Vietnam U23 has been continuously eliminated in the group stage. Hopefully, Vietnam U23 can avoid the same mistake./.
