U23 Vietnam and the journey to win the U23 Southeast Asian Championship
(Baonghean.vn)- U23 Vietnam had excellent matches and won the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. Let's look back at the journey of coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team.
The journey of U23 Vietnam at the U23 Southeast Asian tournament
U23 Vietnam came to the tournament with U23 Southeast Asia as the defending champion, but the force is made up of young players. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan's students only have 3 players aged 22, the rest are mostly 18 to 20 years old, especially there is a player who is only 17 years old.
Despite having many young players, coach Hoang Anh Tuan still set the goal of reaching the final of the tournament, which has been realized by winning the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. Let's look back at the journey of coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team.
U23 VietnamPresent in Thailand since August 14, there was a "rehearsal" match with U23 Bahrain in Bangkok 1 day later, this match was only a test match, after the 2 teams drew 1-1, U23 Vietnam lost 3-5 in the penalty shootout.
Vietnam U23 had a favorable start in their journey to defend their championship title at the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, when they defeated Laos U23 4-1 at Rayong Provincial Stadium.
However, in the final match of Group C, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team encountered many difficulties when facing U23 Philippines. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan boldly experimented with personnel with 8 changes in the starting lineup.
Not having to bear too much pressure in terms of results, plus the fact that U23 Philippines is quite weak, the "B team" of U23 Vietnam plays very confidently and creates a better game.
However, the quality of U23 Vietnam's play is not really high. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan's students make many bad passes, are not really in sync and lack plans to approach the opponent's goal.
The biggest highlight of U23 Vietnam in that match was the coordination that led to the opening goal. Although there are still many issues that need to be improved, U23 Vietnam achieved the dual goal in the match with U23 Philippines: keeping the key players fit for the semi-finals and creating conditions for young players to play.
After a 1-0 victory over the Philippines, U23 Vietnam entered the semi-finals against U23 Malaysia as the winners of Group C. Compared to the previous two matches, facing U23 Malaysia will certainly be a much bigger challenge for coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team.
U23 Malaysia was highly rated after defeating Indonesia in the group stage, winning the top spot in Group B. Meanwhile, U23 Vietnam had unimpressive victories against Laos and the Philippines. However, the audience was surprised when coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team won 4-1 quite easily, with 3 goals scored in the first 45 minutes of play, thereby winning a ticket to the final match.
Champion of U23 Southeast Asia Championship - 2023
In the final match against Indonesia, coach Hoang Anh Tuan's players took the initiative as soon as the starting whistle blew. The most significant opportunities in the first half belonged to U23 Vietnam, however, the players were unable to convert them into goals.
In the 32nd minute, after the ball hit the post of the U23 Indonesia goal, Minh Quang was fouled by Indonesian defender Dewangga, and U23 Vietnam was awarded a penalty. Unfortunately, on the penalty spot, Quoc Viet was unable to beat goalkeeper Eranando.
For their part, U23 Indonesia also created significant opportunities. In the 18th minute, the ball crossed the U23 Vietnam goal and if the player from the archipelago team had finished close enough, goalkeeper Quan Van Chuan could have been defeated. Opportunities were created but both sides could not take advantage, so the first half ended with a score of 0-0.
In the second half, U23 Indonesia pushed up their formation to take an early lead and created numerous opportunities, however, they could not defeat goalkeeper Quan Van Chuan. After more than 100 minutes of play, U23 Vietnam tied 0-0 with U23 Indonesia. This result forced the two teams to enter extra time. In the 30 minutes of extra time, no goals were scored and the two teams had to take a penalty shootout to determine the winner.
In the unfortunate penalty shootout, U23 Vietnam won 6-5 against U23 Indonesia to become the champion and the first team to successfully defend the championship in this arena.
The journey of coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team at the U23 Southeast Asian tournament ended with the captain's happiness. As for the young U23 Vietnam players, this will be a memorable milestone in their football careers./.
