U23 Vietnam: New coach, new playing style and new results?

Vietnam U23 has just successfully defended the gold medal in men's football at the 31st SEA Games with a series of 6 consecutive matches without conceding a goal, scoring 8 goals. The new mission of Vietnam U23 at the 2022 AFC U23 Championship will be more difficult and this will make many people think of the proud story of the snowy Changzhou in 2018, but also not forget the failure of the Vietnam U23 team led by Mr. Park Hang-seo, who for the first time in 60 years won the gold medal in men's football but immediately failed to get past the group stage of the continental tournament in 2020.

U23 Vietnam won the gold medal at SEA Games 31. Photo: Archive

This time, the difference is that U23 Vietnam has just won the SEA Games gold medal and is entering the continental arena with a new head coach, Mr. Gong Oh-kyun. Only 14 players who won the SEA Games gold medal, along with 11 players ((previously eliminated by Mr. Park Hang-seo), continue to be selected and "will play in a different way" according to the new head coach.

First of all, let's believe Mr. Gong Oh-kyun's statement, which means that the upcoming U23 Vietnam team will not play according to the familiar 3-5-2 formation but can change to the traditional 4-4-2 or some variation depending on the reality on the field? And in any formation, Van Toan is still the most certain player in goal, followed by Van Chuan and Tuan Hung, when the two characters behind are quite similar in terms of ability, level, and playing experience. In defense, the names Thanh Binh, Viet Anh, Tien Long are the first best choices, followed by Tuan Tai, Duy Cuong and Anh Viet..., in which the central player, commander of the defense is Thanh Binh.

It is a bit strange that in the announced list, while Tuan Tai is placed in the defender position, Van Do "jumps" to the midfielder position with Quang Nho when this HAGL-born player was assigned by Mr. Park to play right center back or midfielder when needed? Surely the names including Hoang Anh, Cong Den and Hai Long will be the "bosses" in the midfield, the remaining characters can only be Van Do or Quang Nho or Van Cong? This will be the place where U23 Vietnam needs people to ensure the most physical and mental strength, which is the place that Mr. Park considered the weakest when participating in the SEA Games, so he had to supplement 2/3 of the players over 23 years old recently. It is very difficult to overcome this weakness at once, even though Hoang Anh or Cong Den played most of the time in the SEA Games but have not clearly demonstrated their necessary abilities, when facing a much stronger opponent?

On the attack line, without the senior Tien Linh to lead, the task will fall on the shoulders of Manh Dung and Van Tung, who have had valuable combat experience in the past. If the midfield line will certainly face difficulties, the forward line will certainly face much more difficulties in the U23 Asian Finals. It should be recalled that the series of unsuccessful matches of U23 Vietnam 2 years ago, among many reasons, was the lack of goals in the attack line (0-0 draw with U23 UAE and Jordan, only Tien Linh scored 1 goal in the 1-2 loss against U23 North Korea). This continues to repeat itself in the journeys of U23 Vietnam, including the recent 31st SEA Games (8 goals, of which 4 goals were scored by 2 players over 23 years old).

Hopefully, after scoring the “most important goal of his career” in the final against U23 Thailand, Manh Dung will be more confident and determined to continue scoring, especially when meeting regional opponents U23 Thailand and U23 Malaysia? Not to mention Van Tung or Van Truong, young players who can create interesting surprises when they first step onto the continental stage.

Of course, the biggest obstacle for U23 Vietnam in the near future is U23 Korea, which is indisputable, although coach Gong Oh-kyun is confident that his understanding of the "home team" will help him find a way to overcome it. But we cannot underestimate the opponents in the region when they have just experienced bitter defeats against U23 Vietnam and are looking forward to meeting them again to "recover"? U23 Thailand is known to call back 10 more players playing abroad to "regain honor" in this tournament. Therefore, it is understandable that Mr. Gong Oh-kyun announced that he will "play differently" compared to before. The question is how "different" U23 Vietnam is, to what extent that the opponent cannot predict or counter, is what is important and necessary?

An explosive competition, surprise after surprise like the 2018 Changzhou of U23 Vietnam, or just an unwanted repetition of the soulless matches in 2020 is an open question when everything has not started. What is very difficult for Mr. Gong Oh-kyun is that the "shadow" left by the predecessor is still too big, the expectation for Vietnamese youth football is even bigger, while this U23 generation is not really excellent, so it must be seen that any result can happen, it cannot be otherwise. The problem is to be patient, persistent, know how to stand up, do it again, renew to overcome yourself, overcome all adversities at any time, anywhere, including the U23 Asian finals which is just a continental youth playground...