U23 Vietnam friendly match with U23 Bahrain: An important test

Currently, U23 Vietnam is training in Korea. Coach Park Hang-seo's team will have about 1 month of training before moving to Thailand to participate in the U23 Asian Cup. Before entering the battle in Group D, U23 Vietnam will have a friendly match with U23 Bahrain. This is considered a reasonable calculation, because the opponent from West Asia has many similarities with the two opponents we will face, U23 Jordan and U23 UAE.

After the 0-1 defeat to U23 Vietnam at the 2018 Asian Games, U23 Bahrain with a new generation of players has made remarkable progress. In the 2020 U23 Asian qualifiers, the West Asian team won the top spot in Group B with 3 wins and no goals conceded. That is truly an impressive statement from the representative from West Asia. For that reason, U23 Bahrain is truly a quality team to help coach Park Hang-seo and his team perfect their playing style. On the other hand, the playing style of U23 Vietnam also has many similarities with U23 Thailand, the home team in the same group A with U23 Bahrain.

U23 Vietnam will play a friendly match to test the lineup with U23 Bahrain. Photo: AFC

In general, West Asian teams such as U23 Bahrain, U23 Jordan, U23 UAE are often carefully invested, so they have good speed, physical strength, and technique, which is suitable for Vietnam's defensive counter-attacking style of play, a style that brought success to U23 Vietnam at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship. It is very likely that at the upcoming continental youth tournament, the Korean strategist will continue to apply the style of play that brought success against stronger opponents.

In addition, with U23 Bahrain in Group A, it will be very difficult for them to face U23 Vietnam in the knockout round if both teams qualify. This will help both teams show a lot in the upcoming friendly match to perfect their playing style without fear of revealing their cards.

U23 Vietnam will solve the West Asian problem when competing with U23 Bahrain. Photo: VNExpress

Furthermore, after a period of training in Korea, where the climate is much colder than Thailand, U23 Vietnam will have to adapt to the hot weather of Southeast Asia. And the test called U23 Bahrain will be the best physical training for the current runner-up team.

At the 2020 AFC U23 Championship, Vietnam U23 is in Group D with UAE U23, Jordan U23 and North Korea U23. Meanwhile, Bahrain U23 is in Group A with host Thailand, Iraq U23 and Australia./.