U23 Vietnam - U23 Malaysia: Straight to the quarterfinals!
(Baonghean.vn) - At 8:00 p.m. on April 20, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team will compete with U23 Malaysia in the second match of Group D, 2024 AFC U23 Championship.
U23 Malaysia will participate in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship as one of the four best second-placed teams. In addition, compared to the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, the quality of the U23 Malaysia squad in the tournament taking place in Qatar is somewhat lower. Coach Juan Garrido cannot have the services of some important pillars such as Rahadiazli Rahalim, Azam Azmi, Richard Chin, Aiman Afif...
Remember, with a squad that was considered the most optimal, U23 Malaysia was still defeated by U23 Vietnam with a score of 1-4 at the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. Obviously, in terms of strength, coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team is rated much higher than the young team from Malaysia, although U23 Vietnam also lacked some outstanding faces.
In the opening match against U23 Uzbekistan, coach Juan Garrido and his team showed their true status as a "underdog" team. Not only did they lose 0-2, U23 Malaysia also performed a disjointed and ineffective style of play. If it weren't for the luck and inaccuracy in the finishing moves of the U23 Uzbekistan strikers, the number of times goalkeeper Kamaruddin had to go into the net to pick up the ball would not have stopped at 2.
In contrast to U23 Malaysia, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team won quite easily against the "unknown" U23 Kuwait with a score of 3 - 1. Although there were still certain errors in the playing style, the performance of Quan Van Chuan and his teammates still received praise from experts and football fans in the country, especially in the spirit of competition. It is enough to see that the mark of coach Hoang Anh Tuan is very clear.
That does not mean that U23 Vietnam is not facing certain difficulties before the match with U23 Malaysia. According to information from Qatar, it is almost certain that coach Hoang Anh Tuan will not have the service of the 4 strikers Nguyen Dinh Bac - Nguyen Van Tung - Nguyen Quoc Viet, due to injury. In addition, there is the suspension of central defender Nguyen Ngoc Thang (red carded in the match with U23 Kuwait).
However, with the current squad, U23 Vietnam will still be able to defeat U23 Malaysia to quickly qualify for the quarter-finals. As long as they play to their full potential, Quan Van Chuan and his teammates will send coach Juan Garrido and his team home ahead of schedule./.
