U23 Vietnam: Silent stars and long-term planning

Simply, the team does not have many potential stars, there are no real leading factors on the field. Only one outstanding face is "spotted": midfielder Hai Long, who in 2 consecutive matches created goals forU23 Vietnamand those were also the only, decisive goals. The two players who scored (Van Xuan and Thanh Minh) made great achievements, but besides that, there are still worries and everything is still open if the opponent here is of a higher class, more difficult to play?

U23 Vietnam is a team that plays methodically and calculates against its opponents. Photo: baotintuc.vn

However, the story does not simply stop there when everyone knows that, in the 2 qualifying matches, U23 Vietnam is the team that plays methodically and calculates against the opponent, especially in the decisive match against U23 Myanmar. In both of those matches, in the first half, U23 Vietnam also actively attacked, imposed the game but still reserved enough manpower for the defense front.

The players who play the highest and reveal their cards the earliest, such as Xuan Tu and Van Dat, often work at full capacity, forcing the opponent to use all their strength to block. Therefore, after 1 half, if the team can maintain the game and not concede a goal, it can be considered to have basically completed the task, especially fully probing the opponent and wearing down the defense. In the second half, Mr. Park Hang-seo will start to bring in new cards, suddenly entering the field. At that time, U23 Vietnam will play faster, more diversely, and be more ready to explode.

In fact, Mr. Park instructed his players to find a way to finish off their opponents in the most unexpected situations. In the match against U23 Chinese Taipei, Van Xuan showed his cards very early with his role as a wing attacker, a trigger from the left wing. But in the second half, the opponent could not have expected that Van Xuan would be the one to rush down to receive the ball to finish off the brightest situation possible?

In the match against U23 Myanmar, Mr. Park instructed his students to penetrate deep into the opponent's left wing, which is the right wing in the direction of U23 Vietnam's attack, and earned a direct free kick. From this set piece situation, Hai Long skillfully kicked into the penalty area and Thanh Minh jumped high to head the ball past the opponent. The audience can admire Hai Long's skillful kick, the finishing move that changed Thanh Minh's career, but don't forget the efforts of his previous teammates to stir up the opponent, most recently Hoang Anh, and further back Van Dat, Xuan Tu...

To see in Coach Park’s strategy, there are unknown players who do not score outstanding goals but are always trusted, even when that player has not shown his full potential. Without that deep and solid foundation, there will be no “stage” for the stars.

In the Vietnam national team, players Tuan Anh and Van Duc are always in the starting lineup, regardless of previous results, even willing to ignore public opinion and pressure. In fact, playing against opponents when you don't know them, when they are still resilient, and haven't revealed their cards is much more difficult than when everything is gradually clear. In the Vietnam U23 team, Mr. Park is persistent with central defender Quang Vinh in the starting position, but is ready to replace Huu Thang if this player does not meet the needs. Using Thanh Minh as a secret card really shows his "magic" quality, even though overall this team still needs to fix many shortcomings.

In general, Mr. Park is a professional, classy coach, and will have many actions that are not what we normally think. This coach once dropped Huu Thang even though this player had just scored the only goal for U23 in a practice match with the Vietnam national team, seemingly to warn something, but then continued to call him back.

Hai Long was the best in the qualifying campaign but surprisingly was not on the list of 8 U23 players added to the Vietnam national team to prepare for the AFF Cup 2021! Captain Van Toi of U23 was not on the list in the last 2 qualifying matches, which is also unusual in football life... But that is football going out to sea from Mr. Park's long-term calculations starting from today.

To say that, Mr. Park has worked very hard to make sure everything goes smoothly and he knows how to keep the boat on the right track in the context of a longer and more stormy journey. Believing in Hai Long and Thanh Minh, we also have complete faith in Xuan Tu, Van Dat and the stars still lurking behind the clouds, at the right time and place, they will take turns shining...